Mike Thompson: “the Senate has previously determined if, in fact, the Independent Counsel Act is allowed to expire, investigations that…”

“the Senate has previously determined if, in fact, the Independent Counsel Act is allowed to expire, investigations that are currently underway will be ongoing. Why did the Senate decide that? The obvious reason is it is a bad idea for the Congress to be terminating investigations in midstream and sending them back to Justice. This amendment would reverse that previous determination that this body has made. They would send it back to Justice with choices: They would either have to shut down the investigation, make the determination themselves, which would be terrible in terms of appearance, or they would have to continue the investigation and bring somebody else in to do it, which would be terrible in terms of efficiency. I asked Attorney General Reno in the Governmental Affairs Committee what she thought about it. She said, "I think, since these investigations are underway, they should probably be concluded under the current framework." I suggest this is a very bad idea and should be defeated.”