Today, South Carolina Congressman Jeff Duncan voted to hold United States Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for his refusal to turn over documents related to the ongoing investigation into the Fast and Furious operation. Congress held the Attorney General in contempt of Congress by a bipartisan vote of 255 to 67. The House subsequently voted to pursue a civil action against the Attorney General by a vote of 258 to 95.
Fast and Furious was a severely flawed program conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms that allowed over 2,000 firearms to "walk" into hands of the Mexican drug cartels with no cooperation from Mexican law enforcement. ATF lost track of the firearms during the program, and as a result the guns were used in the deaths of hundreds of Mexican citizens and in the murder of Customs and Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry.
"No one is above the law," Duncan said. "Brian Terry's family and the American people have every right to know what really happened with Fast and Furious. Congress will not let up until we have all the answers."
"This is a question of whether a Congressional subpoena means anything or whether it can be ignored by the highest legal official in the land. If Congress allows the Attorney General to ignore our oversight ability, then one of the most important checks on unbridled executive power is taken from the legislative branch."
"Just as one of my constituents told me yesterday, "A man like Brian Terry who puts his life on the line in the Marine Corps and then in the Border Patrol deserves the best we can give him. He gave the ultimate sacrifice to defend the laws of our country. The bare minimum Congress can do for him is to give his family closure.'"