WhatFinger


Cutting off funding for one program is a scratch on the surface, there is much work left for Congressional investigators to do

Law Fixes Fast and Furious?



The US Senate, on a vote of 99-0, passed an amendment on Tuesday October 18, 2011 offered by Senator John Cornyn that is supposed to “fix” operation "Fast and Furious" as well as prevent anything like it from happening in the future.
Here is the text of Senator Cornyn’s amendment:
“Sec. 218. No funds made available under this Act shall be used to allow the transfer of firearms to agents of drug cartels where law enforcement personnel of the United States do not continuously monitor and control such firearms at all times.”
Cutting funding is one of the best tools Congress holds when it comes to controlling agencies and misguided policy. Senator Cornyn took the most expeditious route he had available to end this debacle that has killed two Federal Agents and more than 200 innocent Mexican citizens, not to mention the ruined careers of numerous ATF agents that refused to play along with this illegal operation.

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As far as it goes, this amendment will eliminate any further funding for "Fast and Furious." But does that really solve the problem? The answer is a resounding no. The supervisory personnel that dreamed up and executed this travesty are all still supervisory personnel at ATF. They have been moved out of the field and into the safe confines of the grotesque, vastly over budget, medieval fort architecture at 99 New York Ave., N.E., Washington, DC. From their offices inside this high security building they can be kept away from anyone with questions to ask, field agents who might feel they have a score to settle and, most importantly, protect their pensions and careers. One of the architects of "Fast and Furious" has been put in charge of Internal Affairs, the very point of contact for anyone, Office of the Inspector General (OIG) or CONGRESSIONAL Investigators wanting to ask questions about ATF operations. The only way future "Fast and Furious" type operations will be curtailed is a total house cleaning of those that planned this mess. Starting at 99 New York Ave., N.E. is only a start. As the investigations of the House Oversight Committee are becoming more public it is readily apparent that this house cleaning needs to include the Department of Justice and most likely the White House. Cutting off funding for one program is a scratch on the surface, there is much work left for Congressional investigators to do.


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Jim Ross Lightfoot -- Bio and Archives

James R. Lightfoot, Lightfoot Strategies served in Congress six terms, starting in 1985 and retiring in 1997. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal and General Government (TPS) of Appropriations, he had jurisdiction over 40% of Federal Law Enforcement (Customs, Secret Service, ATF, FLETC, and IRS enforcement).


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