E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 110 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 153 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, MARCH 19, 2007 No. 47 Senate The Senate met at 2 p.m. and was appoint the Honorable MARK L. PRYOR, a After all, this was a President who called to order by the Honorable MARK Senator from the State of Arkansas, to per- won two elections by the barest of mar- L. PRYOR, a Senator from the State of form the duties of the Chair. gins, first by the Supreme Court. Yet Arkansas. ROBERT C. BYRD, after 9/11, instead of uniting the coun- President pro tempore. try, he has chosen to push the envelope PRAYER Mr. PRYOR thereupon assumed the of his authority. On everything from The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- chair as Acting President pro tempore. the runup to the war in Iraq, to the fered the following prayer: f plan to destroy Social Security, to the Let us pray: RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY use of warrantless wiretapping, this ad- Lord, You have promised to work for LEADER ministration has governed without the good of those who love You. Work compromise. in the lives of our lawmakers, The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- The political purge of U.S. attorneys strengthening them for every problem, pore. The majority leader is recog- is only the latest example of this Presi- trial, and temptation they face. Open nized. dent’s unhealthy disregard for checks their eyes to see Your hand at work f and balances. Speedy passage of this even in adversity and keep them faith- FIRING OF U.S. ATTORNEYS bill is only the first step the Senate ful to You. Lord, may their lives become models Mr. REID. Mr. President, in today’s must take to deal with the administra- of godly living as You empower them Congressional Weekly, a respected pub- tion’s dangerous power grab. to live worthy of Your Name. Help lication we get back there, there is a We need to get to the bottom of this them to be quick to hear, slow to column on the last page by Craig scandal to find out why these U.S. at- speak, and slow to become angry. Be Crawford which I think is quite illu- torneys were fired. We need to find out their refuge and strength, an ever minating. It is entitled ‘‘The Firing whether the Attorney General and his present help in trouble. Empower them Squad Backfires.’’ deputies testified truthfully when they to maintain justice and to constantly The fingerprints of the President’s top ad- first explained the firings to Congress do what is right. Teach them Your visers are all over the prosecutors’ firing and the American people. scandal, which means trouble for Bush. ways and give them Your peace. Federal prosecutors are enormously We pray in Your holy Name. Amen. Here is the first sentence: powerful individuals. They are the em- f Of all the scandals that increasingly be- bodiment of Federal criminal law. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE devil George W. Bush’s Presidency, none has They make life-and-death decisions more direct ties to the President than the about who to prosecute and who should The Honorable MARK L. PRYOR led flap over firing Federal prosecutors. receive leniency. Their discretion is the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: I rise today to express my strong sup- largely unreviewable. They must be I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the port of S. 214, Senator FEINSTEIN’s leg- permitted to carry out their solemn United States of America, and to the Repub- islation to strengthen the independ- duties without any political inter- lic for which it stands, one nation under God, ence of U.S. attorneys. There is grow- indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. ference. ing evidence that the Bush administra- f tion fired Federal prosecutors for im- No one disputes the authority of the APPOINTMENT OF ACTING proper partisan reasons. This legisla- President to name U.S. attorneys at PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE tion is needed to protect the integrity the beginning of his term, subject to of the Federal criminal justice system the advice and consent of the Senate. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The and the autonomy of the chief Federal But it is unprecedented that U.S. at- clerk will please read a communication prosecutors across the country. torneys be terminated in the middle of to the Senate from the President pro The U.S. attorney scandal is another a Presidential term without proper tempore [Mr. BYRD]. example of the arrogance of power. As cause. It is unacceptable for U.S. attor- The assistant legislative clerk read Lord Acton said, power tends to cor- neys to be replaced because they were the following letter: rupt, and absolute power tends to cor- perceived by the White House to be in- U.S. SENATE, rupt absolutely. For too long, the Bush sufficiently partisan or too aggressive PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, in prosecuting public corruption. Washington, DC, March 19, 2007. administration—shielded from over- To the Senate: sight by a Republican-dominated Con- It appears that administration offi- Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, gress—enjoyed absolute power, and cials took advantage of a provision of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby they abused it. that they insisted be included in the ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S3239 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 22:18 Mar 13, 2014 Jkt 081600 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\2007SENATE\S19MR7.REC S19MR7 mmaher on DSKCGSP4G1 with SOCIALSECURITY S3240 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 19, 2007 PATRIOT Act reauthorization con- decisions. Do prosecutors who are SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. ference report last year. Now it is be- ‘‘loyal Bushies’’ go easy on Republican This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preserving coming clear why they stuck that pro- corruption? Do they bring cases United States Attorney Independence Act of 2007’’. vision in there. This was a plan they against Democrats without legal jus- SEC. 2. VACANCIES. had for some time. That law reversed a tification? The actions of the Bush ad- øSection 546 of title 28, United States Code, longstanding procedure that allowed ministration call into question every is amended to read as follows: the chief Federal judge in the Federal decision by Federal prosecutors in cor- ‘‘§ 546. Vacancies district court to appoint a temporary ruption cases across the country. ‘‘The United States district court for a dis- replacement while the permanent I applaud the efforts of Senator FEIN- trict in which the office of the United States nominee undergoes Senate confirma- STEIN, who wrote this legislation and attorney is vacant may appoint a United tion. The Feinstein bill simply restores spoke about it early on. I also applaud States attorney to serve until that vacancy the pre-PATRIOT Act procedure. the efforts of Senators SCHUMER and is filled. The order of appointment by the Conflicting testimony and recently LEAHY, as well as colleagues on the court shall be filed with the clerk of the released e-mails strongly suggest the other side of the aisle who are com- court.’’.¿ American people are not getting from Section 546 of title 28, United States Code, is mitted to getting the truth in this amended by striking subsection (c) and inserting the Bush administration the full story matter. I strongly urge the Senate to the following: about this scandal. pass this piece of legislation. Simply ‘‘(c) A person appointed as United States at- In the State of Nevada, as an exam- put, we need to begin to keep politics torney under this section may serve until the ple, Daniel Bogden, a highly respected out of the Federal criminal justice sys- earlier of— career prosecutor, was forced to step tem, which is the way it has always ‘‘(1) the qualification of a United States attor- down. His chosen vocation in life was been. ney for such district appointed by the President to be a Federal prosecutor. He worked under section 541 of this title; or f ‘‘(2) the expiration of 120 days after appoint- as an assistant U.S. attorney for a sig- ment by the Attorney General under this sec- nificant period of time before chosen to SCHEDULE tion. be the U.S. attorney by a Republican, Mr. REID. Mr. President, today, fol- ‘‘(d) If an appointment expires under sub- JOHN ENSIGN, and by the President, lowing the remarks of the leaders, the section (c)(2), the district court for such district who sent his name to us. We were ini- Senate will immediately proceed to S. may appoint a United States attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled. The order of appoint- tially told that Bogden and others were 214, the U.S. attorneys legislation. Last fired for ‘‘performance-related rea- ment by the court shall be filed with the clerk of week, we were able to agree to a unani- the court.’’. sons.’’ But that explanation proved to mous consent that will govern consid- SEC. 3. APPLICABILITY. be totally bogus. In fact, Dan Bogden’s eration of this bill. (a) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by personnel review was glowing. We still There will be no rollcall votes today. this Act shall take effect on the date of enact- don’t know why Dan Bogden was fired. We will, however, have three votes be- ment of this Act. What we do know is under the new PA- ginning at 11:30 a.m.