Richard Gephardt: “Mr. Speaker, the subject matter of this resolution is familiar to the House. It is, as we all know, the object of a…”

“Mr. Speaker, the subject matter of this resolution is familiar to the House. It is, as we all know, the object of a criminal investigation within the office of the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. I would have preferred not to offer this resolution, however, under the rules, the House must consider today another privileged resolution offered by the gentleman from Oklahoma. The House addressed this topic in July of last year when we voted to make public the transcripts of the House post office task force of the House Administration Committee when the inquiry now ongoing in the U.S. attorney's office is concluded. The House wisely decided to defer publication until the U.S. attorney completed his inquiry because a move to immediately disclose those records would have undermined the U.S. attorney's investigation. As you know, last Wednesday, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia delivered a letter to the Speaker and the Republican leader in which he strongly urged the ethics committee to continue to defer action in this matter.”