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Waxman Threatens Contempt of Congress In EPA Investigation

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has had enough of the great stonewaller himself, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.

In a letter today to Johnson, Waxman threatens to hold Johnson in contempt for failing to comply with congressional subpoenas requesting information on two recent controversial decisions by Johnson that overruled EPA's professional staff: his refusal to grant California a waiver to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and his refusal to fully raise ozone standards.

Waxman, the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a similar letter threatening contempt to White House official Susan Dudley, in the Office of Management and Budget, for the White House's refusal to comply with a related subpoena.

You have neither complied with these subpoenas by their returnable date nor asserted any privilege to justify withholding documents from the Committee. In light of your actions, I am writing to inform you that the Committee will meet on June 20 to consider a resolution citing you for contempt of Congress. I strongly urge you to comply with the duly issued subpoenas.

The full text of the letters are here (pdf) and here (pdf).


Comments (15)

hell yes...go after him,Henry, and then lose the key when you lock him up!

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Don't just threaten to cite for contempt, CITE them.
Then throw them in a cell, and lose the key - or the paperwork - for a week or so.

Do this to all of these clowns, and things may improve faster.

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We are furious they aren't held in contempt already.

Frog-march his hack-tacular ass into the Rotunda!

Henry! Pull the farging trigger already!

Is there any precedent for the level of contemptuousness for Congress that we've seen from the Bush Admin?

I mean, common sense dictates that this is the most contemptuous in history, but it would be interesting to see how severe it ranks compared to other administrations.

Um and yeah, frogmarch his disgusting "EPA" ass to a Federal Pen asap.

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Good, Henry! DO IT! Issue the damn citation. He's in contempt. He's spat in the committee member's faces every time he dragged his sorry ass in there! Now DO IT! Pack some WAD, spud! Hold him in contempt or shut up about it. I'm as sick of a spineless Congress as I am of an amoral President. DO IT OR SHUT UP ABOUT IT!!!

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Congress!, Congress!, WE don't need no stinking Congress!

Well, come to think about it, our Congress does stink, with the notable exception of Mr. Waxman and a scant number of others

I like Waxman a lot, but I'm tired of Democrat's babbling threats that they never follow through.

When the Bush gang ignored the first subpoena and the Dems did nothing but bloviate, precedent was set.

I am writing to inform you that the Committee will meet on June 20 to consider a resolution citing you for contempt of Congress.

If it was only up to Waxman, this would be a done deal.

But here's how Wikipedia describes the process: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_congress

Following the refusal of a witness to produce documents or to testify, the Committee is entitled to report a resolution of contempt to its parent chamber. A Committee may also cite a person for contempt but not immediately report the resolution to the floor. In the case of subcommittees, they report the resolution of contempt to the full Committee, which then has the option of rejecting it, accepting it but not reporting it to the floor, or accepting it and reporting it to the floor of the chamber for action. On the floor of the House or the Senate, the reported resolution is considered privileged and, if the resolution of contempt is passed, the chamber has several options to enforce its mandate.

So if you want it to happen, make sure your representative knows it.

The House has had more of a spine than the Senate these days (see the immunity for telecoms votes), but they've still got to be told what to do.

My hope is that the closer we get to Bush being out of office, the more likely it is that the wussies in Congress will be able to vote their consciences (and their constituents' wishes) than worry about repercussions from the White House.

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You know when the contempt of Congress is going to stop?

January 20, 2009.

As most everyone else has noted:

Henry..time to shit or get off the damn pot..threats just ain't getting it done dude.

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Cite contempt all you. Not a damn thing will come of it.

Not in this administration.

.

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More empty threats as usual. They love to say how upset or angry they are, threaten contempt and then turn to the Bush Cheney justice who says take a hike and then all is dropped and we jump on the next thing they find contemptable.

Only when they finally do something will this group not turn out to be a joke along with everything else.

Words mean nothing especially after hearing they will now surrender the accountability of the telecom companies. Do that and say that if the telecom giants are not guilty then how can they say Bush is guilty of a crime??? They will unintentionally or intentionally legitimize the whole process and make it worse in doing so.

Can we get an update on this story today, June 20?

Is the committee meeting today? Are they considering a contempt citation against Mr. Johnson? Or has the EPA provided the requested information in the past week? (Enquiring minds want to know!)

-- ARG

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