Congressional Record: July 19, 2005 (House)
Page H6078-H6079



                       LEAKS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, a lot has been made lately about leaks
coming from the White House, and the outing of CIA Agent Valerie Wilson
was admittedly an egregious act.
  But I, for one, would like more leaks, not less from this White
House. And let me quote the President. Bring it on.
  Let me be clear. I am not looking for more of the kind of leaks that
have tripped up Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. It is generally not a good
idea to out undercover CIA agents working on behalf of America's
national security. Those are the types of leaks that can lead to
unfortunate consequences, like people getting killed and national
security being breached.
  Even if you leak on double super secret background you might get
caught. And if there is a special prosecutor involved, well, look out.
You could end up, as the old cliche in the book says, the former White
House official is doing time in Allenwood.
  The kind of leaks I am thinking about might include like the real
cost of the prescription drug bill for Medicare or the secret plan for
Social Security solvency. Those are the types of leaks that I wish this
White House would provide and knew. It would have been useful, for
example, if someone had leaked the true cost of the Medicare
prescription drug program before Congress had voted to commit future
generations to twice the obligation we were told.
  Originally they told us that the prescription drug bill would cost
$394 billion over 10 years. The American people are going to pay $800
billion. The administration actually kept secret the extra $400 billion
from the Congress and the American people. And they even threatened to
fire the government actuary who wanted to just simply tell the truth.
All along they knew that it was going to be $800 billion and all along
they repeated that it was $394 billion.
  Now that was the type of leak that is worthy of a good Washington
leak. And I think I know something about leaks.
  And it certainly would have been nice if some brave soul in the White
House had told the American people that the President's tax cuts would
raid the Social Security Trust Fund for $639 billion, explode the
deficit, all the while benefiting the wealthiest Americans. Instead
they told us we could have a big tax cut, balance the budget and
strengthen Social Security. Of course, former Secretary of Treasury
Paul O'Neill eventually blew the whistle on what the real cost of the
tax cut was. But by that time it was too late for him and too late for
the American people, and Social Security is $639 billion less today in
the trust fund, all because nobody wanted to tell the truth when they
knew it.
  But these are not the only examples of not willing to tell the truth
to the American people, and wanting to hold back information when they
should have done what their instincts were, which was to leak. Remember
when we had the terrorist report from the State Department and somebody
actually had to doctor the data to say that in fact there was a decline
in terrorism when all along they knew there was an increase in
terrorism. And Secretary Powell had to come back with a new report, a
fresh report to show what the actual data said originally, which was
there was a rise in terrorism in the last number of years.
  Then there was the mercury report from the EPA which was doctored and
played with, and they tried to doctor up; as the British like to say,
they had to fix the data. Well, they had to go back and fix the data
again and come back with the truth.
  But really who can blame this White House for not leaking? Karl Rove
knows that if the American people knew the facts they would not support
the policies of this administration. No, this White House is silent
about everything it should leak and loose lipped about matters better
kept secret. They actually have a bad case of having it all backwards.
  So next time when you see the truth, my recommendation, try leaking
it.

[[Page H6079]]

  And I know the American people and particularly our military families
would appreciate a White House leak today on our double secret plan to
accomplish a mission in Iraq and bring our boys and girls home. I ask
Karl Rove to share that next time with a reporter.
  Heck, we are still waiting for someone to leak the President's plan
on Social Security. So I say do not stop here, Mr. Rove. Do not stop
here, Mr. Libby. Dishing the names of our national security agents may
be your idea of political, quote, fair game. But turn up that leaky
faucet and tell us what we really need to know, which is the truth.

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