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WOLF INTRODUCES RESOLUTION TO CREATE
HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON TERRORIST ATTACK IN BENGHAZI

Washington, D.C. (December 4, 2012) – Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) today introduced a resolution that would create a House select committee to investigate the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya and the Obama Administration’s response.

The resolution already has 14 original cosponsors: Reps. Paul Broun (R-GA), John Campbell (R-CA), Joe Wilson (R-SC), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), John Abney Culberson (R-TX), Robert Aderholt (R-AL), Chip Cravaack (R-MN), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Robert Wittman (R-VA), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Tim Griffin (R-AR), Patrick Meehan (R-PA), Bill Posey (R-FL) and Steve King (R-IA).

Wolf has been pressing the administration for answers since the September attack, which killed four Americans, including a U.S. ambassador.  On September 25, he signed a letter to President Obama requesting more information about the attack and the administration’s response.

Last month, Wolf sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner urging for the establishment of the select committee.  

Wolf said the committee would combine all existing investigations into a single and exhaustive review of the event and the subsequent revelations that followed, much like the select committees that were established during Watergate and the Iran Contra scandals of the 1970s.

Former Sen. Fred Thomson, who served as counsel on the Watergate Select Committee, echoed Wolf’s sentiments in an op-ed last week.

“The seriousness of the [Benghazi attack and administration’s response] calls for…a select committee that is given a specific mandate, a budget and a cut-off date that can be adjusted if it is agreed upon,” Thompson wrote. “It needs to be comprised of members of both parties who have been selected by their leadership because of their proven integrity, reputation for fairness and expertise in a given area.”

The Heritage Foundation has also called for a select committee.

The select committee would be comprised of the chairmen and ranking members of each committee of jurisdiction – Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, Judiciary, Armed Services and Oversight and Government Reform – as well as five additional Republicans appointed by the Speaker and two additional Democrats appointed by the Minority Leader.

“It is our responsibility as a Congress to legislate and educate the American people on the circumstances surrounding the attack,” Wolf, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds the Justice Department said. “We owe it to the families of the victims to fully investigate this tragedy in full and open hearings to have a clearer understanding of what happened.”