COMMITTEE ON THE JUDIC UNITED STATES SENATI ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRE For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printi Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0 STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS Cantwell, Hon. Maria, a U.S. Senator from the State of Washington Feingold, Hon. Russell D., a U.S. Senator from the State of Wisconsin Grassley, Hon. Charles E., a U.S. Senator from the State of Iowa Kennedy, Hon. Edward M., a U.S. Senator from the State of Massachusetts Kohl, Hon. Herbert, a U.S. Senator from the State of Wisconsin Kyl, Hon. Jon, a U.S. Senator from the State of Arizona Leahy, Hon. Patrick J., a U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont Schumer, Hon. Charles E., a U.S. Senator from the State of New York Sessions, Hon. Jeff, a U.S. Senator from the State of Alabama Specter, Hon. Arlen, a U.S. Senator from the State of Pennsylvania 35 284 Responses of Department of Justice to questions submitted by Senators Responses of Department of Justice to questions submitted by Senators 62 SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD OVERSIGHT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE THURSDAY, JULY 25, 2002 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, The Committee met, Pursuant to notice, at 10:03 a.m., in room SD-226, Dirksen_Senate Office Building, Hon. Patrick J. Leahy, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. Present: Senators Leahy, Kennedy, Kohl, Feingold, Schumer, Durbin, Cantwell, Edwards, Hatch, Grassley, Specter, Kyl, Sessions, and Brownback. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. PATRICK J. LEAHY, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF VERMONT Chairman LEAHY. Senator Hatch is on his way, and I know we have votes scheduled on the floor. I will begin. Senator Hatch and I will give opening statements and we will keep those brief and we will then go to a brief statement from the Attorney General. Then we will have rounds of questions at 10 minutes each, using the early bird rule, after Senator Hatch and myself. Of course, the first two members here were Senator Grassley and Senator Durbin. Attorney General, we welcome you to the committee. It is the first time this year; actually, the first time in more than 8 months. I would hope that we might go to a more frequent schedule because oversight hearings give us and the American people the opportunity to hear directly from you about the performance of the Department of Justice. Oversight is what makes things work better. Today, oversight is even more important than ever, not only as a check, but to check whether the actions being taken by the Federal law enforcement agencies under your direction are necessary, are warranted, and are going to deal most effectively with the domestic front of the ongoing war on terrorism. Last fall when we worked together to enact the counter-terrorism bill, I said that with all its new authorizations for Government power, oversight of how the law is being used will be crucially important. This committee has worked hard to follow through on that belief and that pledge. As you recall, the Republican Leader in the House of Representatives wanted to make sure that on some major parts of the legislation we had sunset provisions. I agree with him, but that requires us to do constant oversight to determine whether those sunset provisions will automatically take place or whether the laws will be extended. |