Posted on 06/28/2012 1:57:36 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
In 255-67 vote, House places Holder in contempt of Congress By Jordy Yager and Pete Kasperowicz - 06/28/12 04:37 PM ET
The House voted Thursday to place Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for not complying with a congressional subpoena.
Seventeen Democrats bucked party lines and voted with Republicans to pass a criminal contempt resolution in a 255-67 vote. House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) pushed that resolution as part of his 16-month investigation into a botched Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation.
Only two Republicans voted no on the measure, while 65 Democrats recorded "no" votes and 108 Democrats didn't cast votes. Most of them were protesting the fact that the House GOP was holding the vote.
The two Republican "no" votes were Reps. Steve LaTourette (Ohio) and Scott Rigell (Va.). Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) was the only "present" vote from either party.
The Department of Justice is not expected to enforce the criminal contempt measure against Holder. But before the end of the day, the House was also expected to pass a separate resolution allowing the GOP House to pursue civil court action against Holder.
That second resolution could lead to a lengthy court battle if Issa pursues civil action against Holder.
While 17 Democrats sided with Republicans in the contempt vote, it was met with outrage from Democrats. The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) joined by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and many other Democrats staged a walkout during the vote as Democrats charged the GOP with staging a witch hunt against Holder that demeans the lower chamber.
Pelosi said during the debate that she would join the walkout, and told Democrats it's up to them whether to stay and vote against the resolution, or leave.
"So now I say to those who have a doubt about how they want to proceed, that instead of doing what I said before — which was just to come and to treat this as a bill before the Congress and express my no — listening to the unconscionable presentation, I want to join my CBC colleagues in boycotting the vote when we have the walkout after we have the debate," she said.
Several other Democrats also charged Republicans with making political hay against the Obama administration to help them in the November elections.
"When the history of this despicable proceeding is recorded, it will be said that your actions were politically motivated to discredit and defeat a president who has worked so hard over the past three years," Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) declared on the House floor during rule debate.
But Republicans decried Holder's refusal to hand over documents relating to the Justice Department's reaction to Operation Fast and Furious as nothing less than a "cover-up" and pointed to President Obama's assertion of executive privilege over the material as evidence of the administration's lack of transparency.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) made a rare appearance on the floor to call for support for the resolution.
"I don't take this matter lightly, and I frankly hoped it would never come to this," Boehner said about an hour before voting started.
"But no Justice Department is above the law, and no Justice Department is above the Constitution, which each of us has sworn an oath to uphold," he said. "So I ask the members of this body to come together and to support this resolution."
Before the final vote, the House rejected a motion from Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) to recommit the resolution to Issa's committee. That motion failed 172-251, after which dozens of Democrats left the chamber.
As chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Issa has led Congress's investigation of Fast and Furious, which oversaw the sale of nearly 2,000 firearms to straw buyers for Mexican drug cartels.
Issa was initially concerned with uncovering who was responsible for allowing guns to "walk" during the operation. But he recently switched the primary concentration of his probe to focus on the DOJ's internal communications after the details of the operation were made public.
At the center of the feud between the DOJ and Issa is a letter the department sent last year to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) stating that it does everything in its power to stop guns from going to Mexico. Ten months later, the DOJ took the rare step of withdrawing the letter because it contained false information.
Nearly two months before the DOJ rescinded the letter, Issa subpoenaed Holder for documents related to the fallout that the letter's misinformation had caused.
But after turning over about 7,600 pages of documents to Issa on Fast and Furious, the Attorney General has refused to comply with the remainder of the subpoena, stating that much of the requested information would jeopardize ongoing prosecutions and criminal cases if it were made public.
After attempts at negotiating a compromise failed last week, the president — at Holder's urging — asserted executive privilege over the documents in question.
The DOJ's inspector general has been investigating the failed operation for more than a year as well. And Issa says he should have access to the roughly 80,000 documents that the IG has received from the DOJ.
good
Squeal like a pig, Holder.
Today’s word is “bipartisan”.
Say it again and again.
Bipartisan!
Only 67 Dims voted to support Commie Holder. LoL.
Who cares? Since the rule of law was thrown out by SCOTUS today, what is the point?
Our Republic is dead.
The meme for MSLSD, CNN, CBS, NBC...
In a mostly partisan vote....
I guess the barbecue strategy didn’t work as well as Holder hoped.
This is some what of a big deal but I've read there's been no enforcement of a contempt citation since 1934 when a Commerce Secretary was 'imprisoned' at a DC-area hotel.
I believe the worst penalty that can incure is a year in jail and a $100,000 fine.
This is some what of a big deal but I've read there's been no enforcement of a contempt citation since 1934 when a Commerce Secretary was 'imprisoned' at a DC-area hotel.
I believe the worst penalty that can incur is a year in jail and a $100,000 fine.
read closer - 65 dims and 2 repubs voted against the contempt resolution.
Amen!
NRA had encouraged ALL members to vote YES to find Holder in contempt. Hence, 17 Dems did.
Don't understand why these two Republicans sided with Democrats...
RINOs.
Are there any Democrats anywhere who are concerned about Obama and what he is doing and has done?
Republicans (and the country) took a major blow from a horrible ruling from the USSC, and they stood there, rebutted it, and then went back to work
Eric Holder, the scumbag AG who has been subverting Congress for over a year on what his department did in the 'Fast and Furious' scandal, and the Democrat weenies picked up and ran away, because they were not getting their way, claiming 'partisan politics' is the reason behind this.
I am sorry, but the Dems are a bunch of cry-babies, who run away every time they do not get their way. This just kills me that they get away with this nonsense..
Only 67 Dims voted to support Commie Holder. LoL.
Wow! even 13 commies voted against him...?
One Supreme Court vote doesn’t kill the Republic.
Indeed - they wouldn’t want to be called “racist” or something...
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