John Mica

I am pleased to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to one of the leaders of transportation, new on the committee, but a conferee; did an outstanding job, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Bucshon).

I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to one of the distinguished leaders in the House, the gentlelady from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert), who had a great deal to do with the flood insurance provisions--worked tirelessly.

I'm pleased to yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster), one of the leaders of our committee and the chair of the Rail Subcommittee.

I'm pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus), the distinguished chair of the Financial Services Committee.

I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the distinguished chair of the Science, Space and Technology Committee, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hall).

I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan), who does a wonderful job chairing and leading the Highways Subcommittee.

He is interfering with a lawful investigation of an investigative committee of Congress.

This is a fundamental right of the investigative arm of the House of Representatives. That's the Committee on Investigations and Oversight.

He has been in contempt. He is in contempt and he has contempt for the people of the United States, and the Department of Justice by his actions today.

What we're seeking are all of the documents relating to an incident in which and a plan in which we know first of all that the Department of Justice lied to us.

We will continue to use every lawful means, every process, due process.

What they were trying to do is set the premise. First, they said that the violence in Mexico was due to guns coming from the United States.

He has contempt for the people of the United States and the Department of Justice by his actions today.

This is a simple right of Congress. We fund that activity of the Department of Justice. We created the Department of Justice. And we have an oversight responsibility.

I really don't give a hill of beans what's in any -- any magazine article. My job as a representative of the people, when taxpayers' money has been used to develop a plan and to end up with guns being transported into Mexico, given to drug…

The cost to the taxpayers in financing this entire fiasco is just totally unacceptable--a $3.2 billion program which is rife with problems.

What we have in place is not acceptable. The delays are just beyond comprehension.

Spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, which, Mr. McLaughlin, you described very well, and we don't have, again, a secure program in place.

It is appalling that TSA would thumb their nose at the committee.

They probably could have done it at a fraction of the cost and far less hassle, wouldn't you both agree, if you are just going to do a flash pass?

It would seem that this is a spotty deployment and a totally inadequate adoption of standards.

We have to do something. We have expiring cards, right?

But that doesn't answer my question. They promised us that, again, a year ago the fall, then the end of the year, then the beginning of the year it would be early this year.

So the Secretary said by the end of the year, and the Commandant said by the end of the summer?

You have been in final clearance for years. If this was a plane, we would have run out of fuel and crashed and burned.