国会记录:2003年2月12日(众议院)Page H432 CHENEY TASK FORCE RECORDS AND GAO AUTHORITY临时发言人。根据众议院之前的命令，来自加利福尼亚的先生(韦克斯曼先生)被认出5分钟。韦克斯曼先生。议长先生，上个星期五，2月7日，总会计办公室放弃了获取副总统能源政策特别工作组运作情况的基本记录的努力。这一行动只受到有限的关注，很少有人充分理解其深刻后果。当我们的政府分裂时，公众可以期待国会对行政部门进行必要的监督。但今天我们生活在一个一党控制的时代。这意味着众议院和参议院不会对布什政府进行有意义的监督。当白宫和国会都由一党控制时，只有一个实体能让政府负起责任，那就是独立的总会计办公室。但现在政府问责局被迫放弃了这种基本的独立性。 When GAO decided not to appeal the District Court decision in Walker v. Cheney, it made a fateful decision. In the Comptroller General's words, GAO will now require "an affirmative statement of support from at least one full committee with jurisdiction over any records they seek to access prior to any future court action by GAO." Translated, what this means is that GAO will bring future actions to enforce its rights to documents only with the blessings of the majority party in Congress. This is a fundamental shift in our system of checks and balances. For all practical purposes, the Bush administration is now immune from effective oversight by the Congress. Some people say GAO should never have brought legal action to obtain information about the energy task force, but in reality GAO had no choice. The Bush administration's penchant for secrecy has been demonstrated time and time again. The Department of Justice has issued a directive curtailing public access to information under the Freedom of Information Act. The White House has restricted access to Presidential records. The administration has refused to provide information about the identity of over 1,000 individuals detained in the name of homeland security. The White House deliberately picked this fight with GAO in order to secure its power to run the government in secret. From the start, the White House assumed a hostile and uncompromising position, arguing that GAO's investigation "would unconstitutionally interfere with the functioning of the executive branch." Even when GAO voluntarily scaled back its request, dropping its demand for minutes and notes, the Vice President's office was intransigent. Faced with an administration that had no interest in reaching an accommodation, GAO was left with no choice. Reluctantly on February 22, 2002, GAO filed its first-ever lawsuit against the executive branch to obtain access to information. {time} 1845 In December, the district court in the case issued a sweeping decision in favor of the Bush administration, ruling that GAO had no standing to sue the executive branch. The judge in the case was a recent Bush appointee who served as a deputy to Ken Starr during the Independent Counsel investigation of the Clinton administration. The judge's reasoning contorted the law, and it ignored both Supreme Court and appellate court precedent recognizing GAO's right to use the courts to enforce its statutory rights to information. Before deciding whether to pursue an appeal, the Comptroller General consulted with congressional leaders. He found no support from Republican leaders for an appeal. This hypocrisy is simply breathtaking. During the 1990s, it was the Republicans in Congress who embarked on a concerted effort to undermine the authority of the President. Congressional committees spent over $15 million investigating the White House. They demanded and received information on the innermost workings of the White House. They subpoenaed top White House officials to testify about the advice they gave the President. They forced the White House to disclose internal White House documents, memos, e-mails, phone records, and even lists of guests at White House movie showings. They abused congressional powers, and they launched countless GAO investigations. But now that President Bush and Vice President Cheney are in office-- The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pearce). The time of the gentleman has expired. Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to proceed for 1 additional minute. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair cannot entertain the motion. The gentleman's time has expired. ____________________