On the recordJune 28, 2012
Mr. Speaker, this is a truly sad day. This is not stunning, as I have heard. This is a deliberative process that we've tried to work through. We have a border agent that's been killed. We have hundreds of Mexicans that have been killed. And the fingerprints on all of that go straight back to an operation that was done by the Federal Government. This is a moment to get all of the facts, to get it on the table, find out what happened, and to get it done. Now, we started with a subpoena process, over 22 different categories. We narrowed that down to one. How do we get the documents from the time of February 4 of last year, when the Department of Justice told us one thing, and December, when they said, Oops, and changed their story? We found out that they had not told us the truth. And in that time period when they stalled, stalled, stalled, stalled, we just want the information on that. How did this occur? This is essential because Phoenix ATF had a plan, Fast and Furious. It was then approved by the U.S. attorney in that area, and then went up the food chain to the Department of Justice, where it was signed off. This is not irrelevant. It is essential that we know the process of how this was done. If we're going to fix this problem, we've got to know the facts. Instead, they're being withheld.
