Chuck Grassley: “Recently I spoke about the annual certification process on drug cooperation. I wanted to follow up on those remarks. As…”

“Recently I spoke about the annual certification process on drug cooperation. I wanted to follow up on those remarks. As I noted then, I believe it is important to address some of the myths that have grown up around certification. I also believe that it is important to put on record why we need to keep this process. One of the reasons often advanced for doing away with the certification process is that it just makes administrations lie. Now, in the first place, I don't believe that this is true. But even if it were, I do not see changing a valid oversight requirement by Congress on the premise that compliance makes liars out of the administration. It seems to me that if there is a law and the administration isn't being honest, then you take steps to hold it responsible. You don't shrug your shoulders and throw away the law. Where would we be if we did that routinely? We might as well forget about oversight. We might as well legalize lying. Like many of my colleagues, I have had problems with the executive branch. I am aware of misconduct, misfeasance, and downright lying by executive branch agencies and agents. But I do not believe that simple differences of opinion or interpretation necessarily constitute lying. It is even possible to disagree over policy without calling someone a liar for disagreeing. Misguided perhaps.…”