Patrick Leahy

August 23, 2007 -- “This is yet another high level departure from a Justice Department that has seen its leadership ranks emptied in the last few months. The vacancy rate at the department’s highest levels is another index of the extent to which the current Administration has blunted the Justice Department’s sense of direction and tainted its sense of purpose.    » read more »

20 August 2007 -- The Democratic chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, has threatened to hold members of the Bush administration in contempt for withholding documents subpoenaed by his panel. The administration did not meet a Monday deadline for handing over information about the legal justification for its wiretapping program.    » read more »

WASHINGTON (Thursday, August 16) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Thursday asked the Justice Department’s Inspector General to investigate potentially false or misleading testimony given by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales during his appearances before various congressional committees.    » read more »

MONTPELIER, Vt. (August 14, 2007) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Tuesday sent a letter to President Bush urging him to work with Committee members to reach a final agreement for the testimony of key officials in the ongoing investigation into the mass firings of federal prosecutors and the politicization of hiring and firing within the Department of Justice.    » read more »

August 13, 2007 -- “Earlier this month, Karl Rove failed to comply with the Judiciary Committee's subpoena to testify about the mass firings of United States Attorneys. Despite evidence that he played a central role in these firings, just as he did in the Libby case involving the outing of an undercover CIA agent and improper political briefings at over 20 government agencies, Mr. Rove acted as if he was above the law. That is wrong.    » read more »

High-Stakes Testing and Top-Down Federal Control Are Main Concerns in No Child Left Behind Reauthorization

August 13, 2007 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) are pushing for needed reforms to improve the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) education law. The Senators have written to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee outlining some of their priorities for the reauthorization of NCLB.    » read more »

WASHINGTON (Wednesday, August 8) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Wednesday set a final date for an extension given to the Administration to respond to subpoena relating to warrantless wiretapping issues. The August 20 deadline sets a final date of an extension that offered the White House and the Vice President’s office nearly an additional month to respond to committee subpoenas.    » read more »

August 3, 2007 -- Mr. LEAHY: Mr. President, I am pleased that the Senate has passed the Leahy-Cornyn Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act” (the “OPEN Government Act”), S.849, before adjourning for the August recess. This important Freedom of Information Act legislation will strengthen and reinvigorate FOIA for all Americans.    » read more »

August 3, 2007 -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., received a letter from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales late today in response to Senator Leahy’s request that the Attorney General clarify or correct the testimony he provided to the Committee on July 24, 2007.

Below is Chairman Leahy’s comment on the Attorney General’s attempt to clarify his testimony.    » read more »

Judiciary Panel’s Leaders May Summon Fund’s Executives To Testify In September

[The leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee – Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) – are raising concerns about the management of an insurance fund chartered by Congress to cover claims by Ground Zero’s rescue and cleanup workers who have developed health problems in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.    » read more »

Bipartisan OPEN Government Bill Could Clear Senate Before August Recess

In remarks on the Senate Floor Friday morning, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced a breakthrough in negotiations on the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act (OPEN Government Act) authored by Leahy and Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas). Leahy and Cornyn have been working with Senators over the past few months on moving the bipartisan legislation through the Senate.

Below are Senator Leahy’s remarks as well as information on the bill.    » read more »

August 2, 2007 -- "Mr. President, I wish to express my support for the passage of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization. This is a vitally important program that ensures some of the most vulnerable among us, our children, have access to the health care they deserve. There is no question that we are a country with a health care crisis. In the richest, most powerful country in the world, it is a disgrace that we have 47 million people with no health coverage.    » read more »

July 17, 2007 -- “It’s about time. His tenure has been marked by gross low-balling of resources needed to care for returning troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the scandal over the loss of the personal data of tens of millions of veterans, and concerns about veterans health care sparked by the Walter Reed scandal.    » read more »

“After 18 years, it’s good to finally welcome the Simpsons home. Vermonters love The Simpsons.

“We’re glad for the honor, and today we’re all from Springfield. As much as we Vermonters prize our privacy, we also welcome this attention to our beautiful state. Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie will look great on that yellow carpet with the Green Mountains as a backdrop.”

Source: Senator Patrick Leahy

WASHINGTON (Tuesday, July 10) - Below is Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy’s comment on reports that the Attorney General misled the Senate regarding the timing of his knowledge of widespread abuses by the FBI that resulted in violations of Americans’ privacy and civil liberties.    » read more »