July 29, 1994 - Part 1
July 29, 1994 - Part 1
(11:12:00) OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR RICHARD C. SHELBY Senator SHELBY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do not take the responsibilities that the Senate Committee would like. Regardless of the politics or the dy namics that have charged the subject of these hearings, whether they're legitimate or not, whether they're real or not, we have an obligation to this body and to the American people to conduct these hearings fairly and expeditiously and with one purpose in mind: To expose an to examine to the best of our ability the facts about what has come to be known as Whitewater/Madison. It's only by shedding light on the facts of these issues that we can come to some understanding about the truth of the matter and lay it to rest, lift the cloud of suspicion and innuendo that has dogged the Presidency over the. ears. We're committed, under Senate Resolution 229, to discover de facts about several specific matters which relate to Whitewater. It's my hope in discovering the facts here and I will take the broadest possible view of Senate Resolution 229 and this Committee's general oversight authority during these bearings. This Committee does not have the authority to grant immunity to witnesses in order to avoid directly interfering with Special Counsel Fiske's investigation. Short of this, however, I believe we should shine a bright light on these matters and the U.S. Senate should not allow the Special Counsel to dictate what the le gitimate bounds of this Committee's authority are, nor attempt to Met the institutional role this Committee plays in conducting 'hearings on these matters, nor can we or should we use the Special Counsel as an excuse for not looking into matters concerning Whitewater/Madison that may be embarrassing to the White House, The truth is often elusive but we should not hesitate to pursue the truth about Whitewater/Madison. I believe there's absolutely no reason why the documents, for example relating to Whitewater/ Madison, should not now be made available to the public. Publicly disclosing these documents at this point, I believe, would not compromise Special Counsel Fiske's investigation, but it would, Mr. Chairman, allow the American people to judge these matters for themselves, as we're doing right now. Of the several matters we will be looking at in these bearings, I'm most concerned with contacts that occurred between Treasury, RTC, and the White House relating to Whitewater/Madison. Lloyd Cutler, Counsel to the President, has testified that there were more than 30 contacts between White House aides and Federal regulatory officials concerning Whitewater/Madison. 21 I have serious concerns over such an extensive dialog occurring between the White House and regulatory officials responsible for directing and investigating civil and criminal charges. What was the purpose of these meetings? What influence did they have on the regulators, if any? Did they compromise the independent judgment and decision of the regulators or the independence of the agencies themselves? Were these contacts improper and did they violate any Government ethics rules or regulations? I believe that the Executive Branch should not interfere with or influence in any manner civil or criminal investigations conducted by the RTC. That's a matter of public policy. I'm deeply disturbed with evidence that important and necessary policy decisions at the RTC may have been directed by purely personal political damage control considerations. During the time in question, the Department of the Treasury was basically running the RTC with all press, legislative and legal functions, core agency functions being administered by Treasury. We set up the RTC here in Congress as an independent agency for a number of purposes, among which would prevent the politicization of civil and criminal cases that may arise from the failure of a particular savings and loan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Shelby, Senator Faircloth.