Kevin Brady: “I rise to explain the section of the report dealing with one of our government employees, Mr. Robert Berman, and how he…”

“I rise to explain the section of the report dealing with one of our government employees, Mr. Robert Berman, and how he failed to comply with the subpoena for testimony before the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources on July 11 of this year. Let me tell you though why we are not here today. We are not here, even though, as I see it, evidence shows that a special interest group paid two of our government officials, who illegally and unethically used their insider information gained from their position of public trust to line their pockets and that of a special interest group. That is corruption, and it is wrong. But that is not for Congress to decide; that is for the courts to decide. We are here for something even more important than that. It is to ensure that when Congress seeks the truth for the American public, when we ask a fair question on a serious matter, that we receive an honest, timely answer. It is the authority Congress needed to get to the truth behind Watergate. It is the authority Congress has needed to question industries who deny that they sell their products to young minors. It is the authority we require to expose the IRS when they break their own rules to harass taxpayers. It is the authority we require to hold companies accountable when they sell unsafe products; when the government reaches agreements to sell nuclear weapons to rogue nations.”