All posts tagged United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

Video: First Solar Chairman Tells Congress Majority of Jobs Created Using Obama’s $3.1 Billion Loan Guarantee Were Overseas…

by Admin on May 16, 2012 in Obama Foreign Policy, Obama Propaganda, Obama's Economy, Obama's Radical Ideology, Tyrrany with No comments

Via WFB:

The chairman of First Solar, a company that received approximately $3.1 billion in federal loan guarantees under President Obama’s green energy initiative, said Wednesday that the majority of the jobs created by the company have been overseas.

Speaking at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, First Solar chairman Michael Ahearn admitted that most of the company’s full-time jobs are held overseas.

“In sheer numbers, most of our full-time employees are outside the U.S,” Ahearns said.

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Democrat breaks ranks, supports Issa’s push to enforce Fast and Furious subpoena

by Admin on May 8, 2012 in 2nd Amendment, ATF, Border Patrol, Fast and Furious, Homeland Security, Justice Department - Eric Holder, Project Gunwalker with No comments

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 11: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder at the Department of Justice on April 11, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

Indiana Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly told The Daily Caller on Tuesday that he supports the House oversight committee’s efforts to enforce the congressional subpoena of Attorney General Eric Holder over Operation Fast and Furious.

“One of the duties of Congress is to provide oversight of the Executive Branch,” Donnelly told TheDC. “There has been a serious allegation of federal law enforcement misconduct and we need to get to the bottom of this issue without playing partisan politics.”

Holder has demonstrably failed to comply with the congressional subpoena House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa served him on Oct. 12, 2011. Holder has failed to comply with all 22 categories of the subpoena that demands he provide documents related to Operation Fast and Furious. With 13 of the categories, Holder has provided no documents whatsoever. When it comes to the other nine subpoena categories, Holder is still far from compliant, as TheDC reported late last week.

Despite Holder’s explicit failure to comply with the subpoena, the House oversight committee’s top Democrat, ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings, still insists Holder has not failed to comply. On Monday, Cummings spokeswoman Ashley Etienne told TheDC that Cummings believes Holder hasn’t failed to comply with the subpoena because he thinks the Department of Justice is “still producing documents.”

Etienne wouldn’t specify which “documents” Cummings believes the DOJ is “still producing” when asked. Republicans have been extraordinarily specific on that front.

Keep reading: 

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ENOUGH ALREADY: CONTEMPT PROCESS BEGINS AGAINST HOLDER ON FAST AND FURIOUS

by Admin on May 4, 2012 in Border Patrol, Brian Terry, Fast and Furious, Homeland Security, Justice Department - Eric Holder, Project Gunwalker with No comments
Sharyl Attkisson at CBS News reports that Republicans on the House Oversight Committee will take the first formal step toward contempt proceedings against Attorney General Eric Holder over Operation Fast and Furious.
The draft consists of a briefing paper and 48 pages that will be distributed to Democrats and Republicans.

According to the documents, the Department of Justice has given “false denials, given answers intended to misdirect investigators, sought to intimidate witnesses, unlawfully withheld subpoenaed documents, and waited to be confronted with indisputable evidence before acknowledging uncomfortable facts.”

Most importantly, “the Justice Department’s demonstrable contempt for the congressional investigation has inflicted harm on the people of two nations seeking the truth–and very pointedly on the family of fallen Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ATF whistleblowers who now face retaliation in the wake of their own heroic efforts to expose wrongdoing.”

Of course the DOJ makes excuses and tells Ms. Attkisson, “We’ve done twice a month (document) productions since last year and the Attorney General has testified about this matter no less than seven times.”

The DOJ doesn’t state that they’re still holding onto more than 70,000 documents and have only given the committee about 6,000 documents. Rep Gosar told me a lot of those documents are repeats and it’s very well known, too, that a lot of the documents are heavily redacted, rendering them useless.

Mr. Holder’s testimonies have changed many times and hardly give a straight answer. We don’t have answers to these simple questions: Who came up with this operation? Who approved this operation?

Absolutely no one within the DOJ has been held accountable for Operation Fast & Furious despite the murders of Agent Terry and 300 Mexicans.

Today is also the one-year anniversary of Mr. Holder’s first hearing on this operation.

Developing…

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Issa, Boehner at odds over holding Holder in contempt of Congress

by Admin on April 27, 2012 in 2nd Amendment, Border Patrol, Brian Terry, Fast and Furious, Homeland Security, Justice Department - Eric Holder, Project Gunwalker with No comments

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa has drafted a 48-page contempt of Congress citation for Attorney General Eric Holder over Operation Fast and Furious. It now appears Issa is currently moving forward without the support of House Speaker John Boehner. Holder’s Department of Justice has provided only about 7,000 pages worth of the more than 70,000 pages of documents Issa has subpoenaed related to Operation Fast and Furious. Issa and many others on Capitol Hill have threatened for months that they’ll hold Holder in contempt without actually doing it. This 48-page contempt citation is the first official step in moving forward with contempt proceedings. To actually effectively hold Holder in contempt, Issa would need House GOP leadership to play ball. At this point, it appears as though House Speaker John Boehner is only partially in his court. A House Republican leadership aide told The Daily Caller on Friday that “while there are very legitimate arguments to be made in favor of such an action [holding Holder in contempt], no decision has been made to move forward with one by the Speaker or by House Republican leaders.” Even so, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday morning that top committee officials from Issa’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform “recently met for most of a day in the House speaker’s office and were given the green light to proceed toward a contempt citation.” The Times cited anonymous sources. That GOP leadership aide also told TheDC that the LA Times report is inaccurate. A spokesman for Issa refused to comment when The Daily Caller presented him with GOP leadership’s open opposition to the notion it approved contempt proceedings. If Issa does get the green light, it appears as though he’s going to make his moves around Memorial Day or shortly thereafter. During an appearance on Fox News Thursday night, South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy — a member of the House oversight committee who’s been close to this investigation — said Memorial Day is Holder’s deadline. “Before Memorial Day, Eric Holder will either comply or he will suffer consequences,” Gowdy said. “When I say consequences, I mean contempt of Congress.” Not one government official has been held accountable for Operation Fast and Furious. Scores of lawmakers — 125 House members, three U.S. senators, two governors — and many major political figures, including presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, have demanded Holder’s resignation or firing over Fast and Furious. Boehner has not called for Holder’s resignation, nor has he been vocal about Fast and Furious save for a few times saying he backed Issa’s push for accountability. Some have speculated that Boehner put the brakes on Fast and Furious accountability momentum building late last year into early this year but Boehner’s staff vehemently denies those accusations. Follow Matthew on Twitter

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/27/issa-boehner-at-odds-over-holding-holder-in-contempt-of-congress/#ixzz1tGEOmulz

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Obama apologizes for Afghan slayings, still ignores Mexican ‘Fast and Furious’ murders

by Admin on March 12, 2012 in 2nd Amendment, ATF, Border Patrol, Brian Terry, Homeland Security, ICE, Illegal Immigration, Justice Department - Eric Holder, Mexican Cartel War, Project Gunwalker with 1 Comment

Fast and Furious: Attorney General Eric Holder is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012, prior to testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing entitled, “Fast & Furious: Management Failures at the Department of Justice”. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Via: Daily Caller

Attorney General Eric Holder is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012, prior to testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing entitled, “Fast & Furious: Management Failures at the Department of Justice”. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Barack Obama has never apologized to Mexican President Felipe Calderon for the 300 civilians murdered with weapons the United States provided to Mexico’s drug cartels, but on Sunday he found time to place a call to Afghan president Hamid Karzai apologizing for deaths caused by an American soldier this weekend in Afghanistan.

The Daily Caller asked the White House why Obama hasn’t similarly apologized to Calderon for the murders that resulted from the U.S. policy of providing weapons to the Mexican cartels. Obama spokesman Eric Schultz did not answer.

The Obama administration’s “Fast and Furious” program — organized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and overseen by the Department of Justice — sent thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels via straw purchasers, or people who legally purchase guns in the United States with the intention of illegally trafficking them somewhere else. This tactic is known as “gunwalking.”

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Eric Holder on the Hill faces friendlier fire

by Admin on February 28, 2012 in 2nd Amendment, ATF, Border Patrol, Bryan Terry, Fast and Furious, Homeland Security, Justice Department - Eric Holder, Project Gunwalker with No comments

Eric Holder testified before the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.

Attorney General Eric Holder testified before the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, noting the “appropriate” way he was asked about Fast and Furious there – unlike in other hearings where he had been grilled at length over the gun-walking program.

Eric Holder testified before the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. | AP

“This is very interesting. I’m having a conversation about Fast and Furious in a very appropriate, neutral, detached way. Which by the way is fundamentally different from my experience with other committees. And this is – I wouldn’t say pleasant – but it’s different,” said Holder.

Holder’s comments are a subtle jab at House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Republicans in the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, who have been much more contentious when questioning Holder about the controversial Fast and Furious program.

“There is a certain amount of mistrust, a certain amount of partisan wrangling going on,” said Holder about his relationship with Capitol Hill.

Before the House Oversight Committee earlier this month, Holder had said that he thought the questions asked at that hearing were generally “tough” and “fair,” with the exception of one question from Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-N.Y.).

“How many more Border Patrol agents would have had to die as part of Operation Fast and Furious for you to take responsibility?” Buerkle had asked.

Tuesday’s hearing, which was mainly about Justice Department budget matters, stayed largely clear from gun-walking program.

“I’ve not shied away from the fact that I’m ultimately responsible for what happens in the Department of Justice,” said Holder, when asked about the gun-walking program, while noting that the DoJ Inspector General’s report was still forthcoming.

“It was a bad attempt at trying to deal with a very pernicious problem, where guns are flowing from the United States to Mexico. In its conception, in its execution, it was fundamentally flawed,” Holder said about Fast and Furious. “I understand what they were trying to do, but they were doing it extremely, extremely poorly… it’s bad law enforcement.”

The Department of Justice and the attorney general have been under fire for over a year regarding the controversial operation, which attempted to investigate drug cartels and weapons traffickers but instead ended up supplying them with weapons. Investigators lost thousands of firearms, many of which crossed the border into Mexico.

Firearms linked to the operation were later found to have been involved in the December 2010 shooting death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/73379.html#ixzz1nhn95Mzj

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Boehner: I ‘support’ Issa’s ‘efforts’ to hold DOJ accountable [VIDEO]

by Admin on February 16, 2012 in 2nd Amendment, ATF, Border Patrol, Bryan Terry, Fast and Furious, Homeland Security, John Boehner, Justice Department - Eric Holder, Project Gunwalker with No comments

Via: The Daily Caller

Speaker of the House John Boehner told The Daily Caller that he supports the “efforts” of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee in investigating the Fast and Furious operation but would not say if he thinks Attorney General Eric Holder should resign.

Watch:

During his weekly press briefing on Capitol Hill, TheDC asked Boehner, “Will you support the 100-plus members who have called for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign and bring up [Arizona Republican] Rep. [Paul] Gosar’s resolution of no confidence to the floor?”

“I think Chairman Issa and the members of the committee have done a very good job of investigating this abuse of government power,” Boehner replied, “and I continue to support their efforts and believe that this Justice Department must be held accountable.”

California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, the chairman of the committee, has moved to hold Attorney General Holder in contempt for failing to provide him subpoenaed documents related to the Fast and Furious gun-running operation. (RELATED: Issa takes step toward holding Holder in contempt of Congress)

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Breaking: Issa turns up heat on Holder

by Admin on February 15, 2012 in 2nd Amendment, ATF, Border Patrol, Bryan Terry, Homeland Security, Illegal Immigration, Justice Department - Eric Holder, Project Gunwalker with No comments

Congressman Darrell Issa turns up the heat on Attorney General Eric Holder in a seven page letter on the Fast and Furious scandal. Credits: (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Continue reading on Examiner.com Breaking: Issa turns up heat on Holder - National Conservative | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-national/breaking-issa-turns-up-heat-on-holder#ixzz1mUgsChHf

After Eric Holder and the Justice Department missed the Feb. 9 deadline to submit subpoenaed documents to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, committee chair Darrell Issa has turned up the heat on Holder in a seven page letter demanding that Justice indicate a specific date the documents will be turned over and designate an official DOJ liaison who will interface with the committee as the investigation moves forward.

The DOJ had requested an open ended extension of the deadline to turn over the documents.

But Issa stated that the committee can wait no longer.

In the letter, Issa requested that the DOJ liaison should also serve as the go-between to handle possible contempt citations the committee may deliver against Justice Department officials for the repeated failure to deliver subpoenaed documents.

Continue reading on Examiner.com 

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Issa with Megyn Kelly: We Need To Know Who in Main Justice Approved Fast & Furious

by Admin on February 15, 2012 in 2nd Amendment, ATF, Fast and Furious, Gun Control, Homeland Security, Justice Department - Eric Holder, Project Gunwalker with No comments

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, goes on Fox News’ “America Live with Megyn Kelly” to discuss the latest on the investigation of the failed Operation Fast and Furious.

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BREAKING Fast and Furious: Rep. Issa to Holder, We Want Documents Now, Contempt Charges Still On The Table

by Admin on February 15, 2012 in 2nd Amendment, ATF, Border Patrol, Bryan Terry, Fast and Furious, Homeland Security, Justice Department - Eric Holder with No comments

Big Government: by AWR Hawkins

On February 14th I received an email from House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) office, containing a copy of a letter the Congressman just sent to Attorney General Eric Holder. In it, Issa points out Holder’s “lack of good faith,” in not complying with document requests heretofore, and to the fact that the DOJ as a whole appears “more concerned with protecting its image through spin control than actually cooperating with Congress.”

Wrote Issa:

The Justice Department’s request for additional time has, unfortunately, not been followed by efforts to bridge the significant differences between its legal obligation to Congress and the reality of its stonewalling. The [House Oversight and Government Reform Committee] is determined to know what happened in Operation Fast and Furious and how the Justice Department responded when it was publicly confronted with evidence of reckless conduct after Agent Terry’s death. If the Justice Department cannot commit to providing, at a minimum, a detailed description of documents it is withholding, and the legal basis for doing so, then the committee has no other option than to move forward with the contempt process against Attorney General Holder.

In addition, the letter sets forth central questions that have to be answers, among which are:

1. Exactly how and when did senior Department officials learn the truth of what happened?

2. Did Department officials retaliate against whistleblowers?

3. Why did Department officials decide to move forward with prosecuting old cases involving highly objectionable tactics when line prosecutors had refused to do so?

4. Why did senior Department officials fail to see the clear connection between Fast and Furious and prior flawed operations they have admitted they knew about?

5. When did the Department first learn about Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer’s February 2011 suggestion of gunwalking, and why did the Department wait so long before telling Congress about it?

6. A year later, will the responsible senior Department officials be held accountable?

The letter also contains a specific line of questions about Patrick Cunningham, Chief of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, who pled the 5th when subpoenaed by Issa. Apparently, Cunningham did his own “comprehensive review” of Fast and Furious in April 2011, and Issa wants to know what he found out.

Wrote Issa: “What information did Cunningham uncover To whom did he report this information? What was done with this information?”

Issa ended his letter thus:

Keep reading…

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