[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 16497]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    LOWER LEVEL OPERATIVES TO BLAME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, is the administration aware of the 
actions that are taking place in the administration?
  A little history:
  Fast and Furious:

       Everyone knows the President did not know about this tactic 
     until he heard about it through the news media.

  A quote from White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.
  So lower level operatives blamed. No accountability.
  Benghazi: 5 days after the attack, the administration still blamed it 
on a video. We learned later that the White House was told that this 
was a terrorist attack within 3 days of the attack.
  So when did the President find out this was a terrorist attack?
  In any event, no accountability. Video blamed. No one in the 
administration was held accountable, and the killers have not been 
brought to justice.
  The Department of Justice's wiretapping of the Associated Press:

       Other than press reports, we have no knowledge of any 
     attempt by the Justice Department to seek phone records of 
     the Associated Press.

  Once again, this was from White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.
  Lower level operatives blamed. No accountability.
  The IRS scandal: The investigation was not a matter that should be 
conveyed to the President.
  That was Jay Carney once again.
  Lower level operatives blamed. No accountability.
  ObamaCare Web site disaster: Secretary Sebelius claims the President 
was not aware of the Web site problems until the Web site was launched.
  Once again, lower level operatives blamed. No accountability.
  NSA spying on foreign leaders? U.S. officials claimed the President 
did not know about this. The President refuses to say whether he knew 
or not.
  But anyway, lower level operatives officially blamed.
  NSA spying on Americans: The President claims he did not know the 
extent of the spying on Americans.
  Lower level operatives blamed. No accountability.
  Mr. Speaker, exactly who is running the country--lower level 
operatives? Has the government gone wild? Is there a shadow government 
operating without the knowledge of the White House? Is the President 
out of tune with what is taking place in his own administration or is 
he aware of those actions?
  If the President were unaware of all of this, the White House needs 
to hold people accountable, to hold these lower level operatives 
accountable for their actions--their improper actions, their bungling, 
their incompetence. The White House needs to fix this out-of-control 
government immediately.
  The White House needs to take responsibility for the actions of his 
administration and quit blaming others and lower level operatives. That 
is the White House's responsibility. After all, to quote the 
constitutional law professor, ``The buck stops with me.''
  And that's just the way it is.

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