[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7668-7669]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  GRANDMOTHER AND THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, the U.S. Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, 
is the chief law enforcement officer in this Nation. He is the most 
powerful

[[Page 7669]]

prosecutor in America. As such, his credibility is based on his word. 
He must never deceive, mislead or misstate.
  There have been two different accounts by his office about the 
firings of some U.S. Attorneys. Gonzalez says he never has discussed 
the firings, but secret memos show a meeting to discuss such was held 
in his very office where he was present. Both statements cannot be 
true. His word is tarnished.
  The issue is not whether the administration can fire U.S. Attorneys. 
It can do so for almost any reason under the law.
  Madam Speaker, growing up, my grandmother was the Chief Law 
Enforcement Officer. Her word was the law. I never doubted what she 
said. I respected her because she was always bluntly truthful. If she 
had told me it was raining in my house, I would have rushed home and 
started putting plastic over the furniture, because she never misled or 
misstated the truth.
  This Nation deserves better than to have an Attorney General who 
cannot be forthright with Congress and misleads the citizens he has 
been sworn to protect. He has a credibility issue. His word should be 
as bluntly truthful as my grandmother's.
  And that's just the way it is.

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