T30.7 JOURNAL OF THE MARCH 24 with the Senate thereon, was, by unan- and faithfully discharge the duties of latory agencies to request certain doc- imous consent, laid on the table. the office.' uments of an oversight interest [exam- Thereupon, the SPEAKER pro tem- ``If the majority party refuses to up- ple, Tab A]. In a followup letter I pore, Mrs. KENNELLY, by unanimous hold its responsibilities because of po- pointed out, as the courts have noted, consent, announced the appointment of litical embarrassment to its party's `The Congress rarely acts as a body. Its Messrs. BRYANT, GLICKMAN, FRANK, top elected official, the minority party manifold duties in the legislative, in- FISH and GEKAS, as managers on the is left with the choice either of joining vestigative, and oversight fields are al- part of the House at said conference. in a complicity of silence or pursuing most invariably carried out through Ordered, That the Clerk notify the investigations that run the danger of committees, committee chairmen, in- Senate thereof. being partisan. dividual members, and staff personnel.' ``In this context, I would simply em- Murphy v. Department of Army, 613 F.2d T30.7 POINT OF PERSONAL PRIVILEGE phasize that I raised the Whitewater 1151, 1156 (1979). In addition, the court Mr. LEACH rose to a question of per- issue with great reluctance, realizing stated: sonal privilege. the import as well as the power of the The Senate and the House are so organized The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mrs. Presidency. I fully understand the po- that certain legislative and quasi-legislative KENNELLY, pursuant to clause 1 of litical and personal liabilities involved. activities may be accomplished only through rule IX, recognized Mr. LEACH for one Nonetheless, I feel it would be incon- committee action. In other respects, how- hour. sistent, indeed, hypocritical, to my ever, the legislature acts through its individ- Mr. LEACH made the following state- own values, if I refused to pursue a line ual Members. All Members have a constitu- ment: of inquiry potentially embarrassing to tionally recognized status entitling them to share in general congressional powers and re- ``Madam Speaker, I rise to a point of the President of a country which from its inception was intended to be sponsibilities, many of them requiring access personal privilege of the House. to executive information. It would be an in- ``In rising to this point of privilege, I hallmarked by law and its applicability appropriate intrusion into the legislative wish to express concern about the to all citizens. It is, after all, the estab- sphere for the courts to decide without con- breakdown of comity that has occurred lishment of a government of laws, not gressional direction that, for example, only on a personal and procedural level in men, that defines the uniqueness of the the chairman of a committee shall be re- the House Banking Committee. American experiment with democracy. garded as the official voice of the Congress ``On a personal level, unfortunate ad- ``Procedurally, it should be noted for purposes of receiving such information, jectives have been used; on a proce- that the minority is currently engaged as distinguished from its ranking minority in one of the most profound checks and member, or other committee members, or dural level, unprecedented tactics have other members of Congress. Each of them been employed. balances philosophical engagements participates in the law-making process; each ``I don't wish to dwell on the per- with the executive branch in the mod- has a voice and a vote in that process; and sonal, except to stress my high regard ern history of the Congress. This en- each is entitled to request such information for the chairman of the Banking Com- gagement carries far greater implica- from the executive agencies as will enable mittee and to suggest that, as the the- tions than any judgment relating to a him to carry out the responsibilities of a leg- ologian Reinhold Niebuhr once ob- particular embarrassment of a particu- islator. served, the temper and integrity of the lar public official at a particular time ``Agency heads responded that a political debate is more important in because at issue is precedent: whether ranking member only has the author- our kind of democracy than the out- in future circumstances the oversight ity of an individual Member of Con- come of any issue. capacities of Congress can be thwarted gress and, therefore, may only obtain ``Motivational aspersions are no sub- if the majority party of Congress is the information that would be available to stitute for full disclosure; indignation same as that in control of the execu- the public pursuant to the Freedom of no substitute for pursuit of truth. tive branch and chooses to refrain from Information Act. In addition, the Office ``Members of the majority may be its oversight obligations in order not of Thrift Supervision asserted that it speaking the truth when they indicate to embarrass its party's standings. differs `with the view that Rules X and they have no evidence of a link be- ``It is possible that the constitutional XI of the House of Representatives tween the failure of an Arkansas S&L precedent for our checks and balances grant to a ranking minority memberÐ and Whitewater and that they know of system surrounding the refusal of the or any individual memberÐthe same no improprieties at issue. But it should administration to cooperate with an authority to request information that be understood that not speaking an un- oversight probe of the executive branch a committee chairman possesses.' In truth is not the same as describing a which the majority party does not short, the agencies contend that only truthful situation, particularly if there sanction may have more long-term chairmen, not ranking members, speak has been no serious effort to pursue the negative consequences than any epi- for Congress. truth. sodic embarrassment that might relate ``Subsequently, on March 8, 1994, I ``Constitutionally it is the duty of to this or any President's past. What is wrote requesting information for the Congress to oversee breaches of law or at issue is the definition of Congress as Banking Committee's upcoming RTC public ethics in the executive branch. it applies to the constitutionally oversight hearing [Tab B]. Agency During the 12 years of the so-called di- granted oversight responsibilities of heads again responded by holding to vided Government of the Reagan/Bush the legislature. In our checks and bal- the position that only the chairman of era, the legislative branch took its con- ances system, Congress was given over- a committee would be permitted access stitutionally mandated oversight func- sight responsibilities, but this adminis- to agency documents. tion seriously, as witnessed by the ex- tration is suggesting in response to mi- ``In this dispute about who is entitled pansion in the size of its staff and the nority requests for documentation to speak for Congress in the context of number of investigations undertaken. from executive agencies that only Congress' right and obligation under ``Now both the executive and the leg- chairmen speak for Congress. The mi- Article I of the Constitution to conduct islative branches of Government are nority in Congress, by this logic, has oversight of the executive branch, the controlled by the same political party. no power to advance or fulfill its con- chairman of the Banking Committee, The oversight mandate thus falls dis- stitutional rights if the majority does in what may have been an effort to bol- proportionately upon the ranking not concur in request for information. ster the executive's position, wrote members of the respective committees If such precedent is allowed to stand, agency heads on March 10, 1994, to sug- for those areas of the executive branch Congress's oversight capacities will for gest that they deny my document re- over which they have jurisdiction. Not all practical purposes be hamstrung quest and wrote separately on March to assume leadership in performing the whenever the executive and legislative 14, 1994, to state that they need not an- oversight function with regard to the branches of Government are controlled swer questions concerning Madison way in which the financial institutions by the same party. Would our Found- Guaranty Savings and Loan at the of this country are managed and regu- ing Fathers have had this in mind? scheduled hearings [Tabs C and D]. The lated would be to violate my oath to ``In this connection, on December 9, chairman's letter contained an implicit `support and defend the Constitution of 1993, as ranking member of the Bank- and unprecedented philosophical asser- the United States * * * and * * * well ing Committee, I wrote Federal regu- tion that not only does a chairman 372 1994 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES T30.7 have the exclusive right to obtain over- sight hearings, questions related to in- duty of the minority party, as the ma- sight documents from the executive dividual institutions have been asked jority. Indeed, in real life circumstance branch, but the right to deny such doc- by committee members, including the as evidenced in this particular inci- umentation to other Members and the chairman, and answered by witnesses. dent, oversight may in practice imply a right even to deny inquiries about In fact, the committee's invitation let- greater obligation on the party out of issues clearly germane to the subject of ter of March 3, 1994, to Treasury Sec- power than the party in control of the hearings. retary Bentsen for purposes of the RTC executive branch. ``So that there is no misunderstand- oversight hearing, seeks testimony and ``Hodding Carter, the distinguished ing, the RTC oversight hearing was documents related to a specific institu- journalist from Mississippi, recently scheduled under requirement of law, tion, Homefed Savings.