Gerry Connolly

I mean, Syria sends Hafez al-Assad, was the Soviet Union's one client state in the region, and that goes back to 1970.

Mr. Connolly. Mr. Chairman, if I might be allowed just two more points.

How worried should we be about that? And are there countervailing forces that can be looked to to try to redress what is, in fact, happening in Turkey?

None of this is to whitewash real issues, but there is a context here. We want to make Turkey a more stable democratic state.

I sometimes wonder on our committee, when we talk about Turkey, whether we can step back a little bit and look at context and attributes as opposed to looking for fault only.

My narrative would be that this administration took up from the neglect and fecklessness of the previous administration with respect to Iran.

If you want to remove an existential threat to Israel, that is the way we did it.

The agreement, the nuclear agreement, is working. They are complying.

I encourage my colleagues to support this measure as well.

Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H. Res. 343 offered by the Honorable Gerald E. Connolly

Would you not agree that, in the terms or--in the context of export controls, controlling things, widgets, is easier than controlling thought processes and methods?

I've always been a skeptic about export controls, frankly. I mean, maybe good intentions, but we don't live in that kind of world anymore.

Legitimate requirements for information must be enforced on a bipartisan basis. Fishing expeditions, blatantly partisan efforts to seek information to embarrass, to humiliate, to undermine will not get bipartisan support and don't deserve…

I find myself in an interesting position in this hearing because, having worked for the legislative branch for 10 years in the Senate and now being a member of the legislative branch as an elected Member of the House, I certainly have…

It is inaccurate to suggest that the State Department has intentionally withheld the documents we need.

Unfortunately, I have also seen how investigations can be used as a form of political attack rather than a search for the facts and a search for the truth.

I strongly support the authority of this committee to obtain necessary documents as part of our investigations.

How about now? How about, just once, resisting the temptation to engage in partisan activity, especially when it comes to foreign policy?

Whatever happened to the Arthur Vandenberg standard that our differences end at the water's edge?

This is an attempt to embarrass and to undermine. And that is not how we ought to be doing business in this committee.

Thank you. I appreciate the distinction.

Can you make a commitment, at least a tentative commitment--we understand things happen--but can you make a tentative commitment to us today in terms of getting that to zero?

I'm looking at the backlog of family actions. And, again, Ms. Ochoa, your report to us was in September.

I really thank Mr. Lynch for noting that.

We're looking at GSA's deplorable management of the Army's subsidized childcare program.