Statement of Congressman Gerald E. Connolly

 

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

 

Sixth Hearing on Fast and Furious

 

February 2nd, 2012

 

This hearing is a result of a unilateral subpoena issued by Chairman Issa in violation of longstanding Committee practice under both Republican and Democratic Chairmen.  It is the sixth Fast and Furious hearing at which Attorney General Holder has testified about gun walking programs initiated under the Bush Administration and terminated under the Obama Administration.  Despite the political nature of this show trial, it does offer an opportunity to consider the appalling failure of Congress to reduce gun violence along the Mexican border.

 

In the last five years, 47,515 individuals have been murdered near the U.S. Mexico border as drug cartel violence has skyrocketed.  During this time, the Mexican government has recovered 94,000 guns and turned them over to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).  64,000 of these guns came from the United States, and data from firearms dealers suggest that up to 1,000 guns from the United States continue to be trafficked into Mexico on a monthly basis, fueling more gun violence by drug cartels.  When I visited Mexico on a bipartisan CODEL, the Mexican Attorney General told Members of Congress that the single most effective way to reduce violence along the Mexican border would be to strengthen gun laws in the United States.

 

Instead of having a hearing on that topic—policies which might actually protect the safety of Americans and our southern neighbors—Chairman Issa is holding a hearing to attack the Attorney General and, by extension, the President.  This week Ranking Member Cummings issued an exhaustive report about gun walking programs which confirmed that they were initiated under the Bush Administration by local ATF agents in Phoenix.  It appears that President Bush’s Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, was aware of gun walking by local ATF officials in Phoenix, but Chairman Issa has not investigated that because it would fail to meet his central goal of attacking the current President.  Ranking Member Cummings’ report, based on dozens of interviews with ATF agents and a review of Department of Justice documents, also found that the Attorney General’s office shut down Fast and Furious as soon as Obama Administration officials learned about it.  Moreover, under this Administration the entire ATF chain of command has resigned or been reassigned as a result of Fast and Furious, from the ATF agents in Phoenix to the former Acting Director Ken Melson, despite the fact that Fast and Furious was run out of a regional ATF office without approval from headquarters.  As Ranking Member Cummings’ report makes clear, ATF officials have been held accountable for Fast and Furious, and the Obama Administration has issued clear directives never to allow gun walking to happen again.

 

That isn’t the end of the story, because we know that the ATF is not the central cause of gun violence by Mexican drug cartels.  At the last Oversight hearing on this subject, ATF officials themselves—invited by Chairman Issa—told this committee that stronger gun control laws would be necessary to stem the tide of cartel violence.  Before Chairman Issa tried to cut him off, one ATF agent told us that there are stronger regulations on purchasing Sudafed than purchasing guns, and that penalties for gun trafficking are no more severe than those issued for minor traffic violations.

 

President Obama has acted decisively to stem the tide of trafficked guns, despite Congress’ abject failure even to consider policies which strengthen gun law enforcement.  Last July, the Department of Justice issued regulations requiring firearms dealers in states bordering Mexico to report multiple sales of long guns like AK-47s, based on evidence that single straw purchasers were purchasing and trafficking thousands of automatic assault rifles for Mexican drug cartels.  House Republicans have attempted to strip DOJ’s authority to continue monitoring long gun sales while the NRA has litigated to block it in court.

 

The Administration can’t fix this problem by itself, however, because Congressional action is necessary to criminalize gun trafficking.  Right now, there is no law against purchasing thousands of assault rifles and reselling them to Mexican drug cartels.  To slow this heinous practice, ATF agents and the Department of Justice resort to prosecuting gun traffickers for minor paperwork violations, which is one of the reasons that 60% of traffickers merely receive parole even when they are caught.  Republicans in the Senate should stop blocking confirmation of a permanent ATF director.  It is impossible for an agency to function properly when Senators beholden to the gun lobby have blocked appointment of a director for six long years.

 

Ranking Member Cummings’ report elaborates on these and other constructive policy changes which would reduce gun trafficking and gun violence on the Mexican border.  At our last hearing, Chairman Issa tried to censor discussion of such policy reform, but if we actually were concerned about violence along the border then we would consider policies to reduce gun trafficking rather than hold another hearing for which the sole objective is to embarrass a sitting President for actions taken under his predecessor.