The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRANSPARENCY AND GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S5968 on Sept. 22, 2016.
The Department is one of the oldest in the US, focused primarily on law enforcement and the federal prison system. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, detailed wasteful expenses such as $16 muffins at conferences and board meetings.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRANSPARENCY AND GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT
Mr. GRASSLEY. Now, Mr. President, I would like to use that additional 60 seconds.
Another issue I want to raise with Senate leadership is transparency and our responsibility of government oversight.
Last week, I spoke about the danger of allowing agencies to improperly use the Office of Senate Security to keep information secret even when it is unclassified.
I said that if we let the FBI get away with hiding the Clinton investigation documents from the public, then other agencies would abuse the system to undermine transparency and oversight. That is exactly what is happening.
The State, Treasury, and Justice Departments are trying the same trick to hide documents about the Obama administration's transfer of billions of dollars to Iran for hostages.
These unclassified documents requested by the Judiciary Committee are being locked away in the basement of the Capitol. They are being treated as if they are classified, but they are not.
The Committee was not consulted and did not agree to these burdensome and unnecessary document controls.
With the Clinton investigation documents, the FBI improperly mixed classified and unclassified documents together in order to keep the unclassified documents secret. But, this time every paragraph and every page of the Iran hostage payment documents is 100 percent unclassified.
So why send it to Senate Security? Why keep it locked away from the public and congressional oversight? Why would the Senate participate in this scheme to undermine transparency?
If the Senate, as an institution, wants to take its oversight responsibility seriously, we should not be helping the executive branch hide embarrassing information from the American people.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Rubio). The Senator's time has expired.
Mr. GRASSLEY. I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Fischer). Without objection, it is so ordered.
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