Senator Chuck Grassley, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, today issued the following statement after the Senate voted on a "motion to proceed" to a resolution expressing no-confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Grassley voted against proceeding to the measure. In April Grassley stated for the Judiciary Committee record his support for the authorization of committee subpoenas of Justice Department and White House officials regarding the firing of U.S. attorneys. He has expressed frustration about the resistance of the Administration to comply with Congressional requests for information on this and numerous other oversight matters.
Here is Grassley’s comment.
"I have mixed feelings about the Attorney General’s leadership at the Department of Justice. During the last several months, the Attorney General has done a great deal of damage to his own credibility, as well as the credibility of the Department. But, I can’t support the Senate wasting valuable time debating what merely amounts to a political ploy led by the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, to raise money for the Democratic party. We could be working on an immigration reform bill that is possibly one of the most important domestic policy initiatives the Senate will undertake this year. We could be moving straight to legislation on energy policy to help reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil. Votes of no confidence are not relevant in our system where the founding fathers wisely created three separate branches of government to avoid just this type of over-reaching by one particular branch."