Blake Farenthold: “This amendment actually implements what I have proposed in H.R. 4447, which is that any employee of the Federal…”

“This amendment actually implements what I have proposed in H.R. 4447, which is that any employee of the Federal Government--in this case, we are limiting it to the subject of this appropriations bill--not be paid if they have been held in contempt of Congress. We have seen, unfortunately, that even though we have held Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, the Justice Department has failed to pursue that, and we are delayed on the civil contempt in the court system. What I am trying to do here is put a little teeth into contempt of Congress, using the power of the purse. The Constitution gives this body the power to decide how the Federal Government spends their money. And if somebody is in contempt of this body, they should not be paid. If you are in contempt of your employer in the private sector, most likely you are going to be unemployed and not get your paycheck. I intend to offer this amendment for all the appropriations bills as a way to possibly get it through the Senate, where nothing is happening. It is critically important that we do this in the Veterans Affairs appropriations bill because as we begin to investigate the horrifying allegations of secret waiting lists and folks dying because they are not getting timely treatment in the VA, it is certain there is going to be a congressional investigation. We need all the tools we have in our tool chest to get to the bottom of this and make sure people cooperate and make sure people testify.…”