[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23785]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      WHITE HOUSE STONEWALLING OF VALERIE PLAME LEAK INVESTIGATION

  (Ms. LEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, sadly, 2,000 American troops have now died in 
Iraq due to a war based on fabrications of weapons of mass destruction 
in Iraq.
  Two years have passed since the Bush White House breached national 
security by leaking a covert CIA agent's name to reporters to smear a 
former ambassador who questioned their misleading case for war. Why has 
President Bush not acted on this reprehensible act?
  Anyone who follows the news now knows that the White House Deputy 
Chief of Staff Karl Rove is implicated in leaking Valerie Plame's 
identity to Time reporter Matthew Cooper. We also know that it was the 
Vice President's Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby, at the heart of charges 
leaking Plame's identity to New York Times reporter Judith Miller.
  Two years ago the White House press secretary told reporters, ``If 
anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer 
be in this administration.'' But that was before it was clear that Karl 
Rove was indeed involved. President Bush now says staffers will only be 
fired if they committed a crime.
  Talk about lowering the bar. The Bush administration was right at 
first when it said that anyone involved in this serious breach of our 
national security would be handed their walking papers.
  The stonewalling and the coverup of the White House must finally come 
to an end. Our country must do better. The world is watching.

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