Posted on 10/19/2011 5:05:52 AM PDT by Libloather
Senate fires warning shot at Justice Dept. over 'Fast and Furious'
By Josiah Ryan - 10/18/11 05:03 PM ET
The Senate Tuesday afternoon unanimously cleared an amendment to prohibit funding for operations similar to the Justice Department's botched gun-tracking program, nicknamed “Operation Fast and Furious.”
The amendment is designed to prevent the Justice Department from implementing similar programs in the future, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) — the sponsor of the amendment — said prior to the 99-0 vote.
“When 2000 firearms go missing and at least one is found at the crime scene of a murdered U.S. Border Patrol agent, we must do everything possible to ensure that such a reckless and ill-advised operation like ‘Fast and Furious’ is not repeated," he said.
Cornyn's amendment, now tacked on the appropriations “minibus,” would explicitly prohibit the Justice Department from expending further federal funds on Operation Fast and Furious or programs that involve sending weapons into Mexico.
The program, now under congressional investigation, was run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives beginning in 2009. It facilitated the export of American weapons to known Mexican drug cartels in order to map gun-running routes. Agents lost track of around 1,500 of the assault rifles, however, and one was linked to the murder of a U.S. border agent.
The program has drawn political fire from both sides of the aisle: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has launched an investigation in his House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in which Attorney General Eric Holder testified as to what he did or did not know about the program.
It’s a half “A” amendment. They can still do it as long as they track the guns.
The sackings will be politically expedient.
Holder and Obama will play the victim cards.
A day late & a dollar short.
To hell with amendments. They better keep the FBI and Justice wide open and under surveillance. These bastards are as devious and corrupt as they feel necessary. They don’t care about America. They are power-mongers.
Hope not. For later reading.
BS, they never tracked them. Their intent was to flood the Mexicans with US guns to gin up support for more gun laws.
That was the first thing I thought when I heard about this yesterday? When was the last time 99 Sinators agreed on anything? How many of them, on both sides of the aisle, could be implicated in this mess? There are plenty of Republican pols who are buddy-buddy with Mexico. And, I'm still waiting for Calderon to say "Fast and Furious" or "Gunwalker". Why won't he?
Calderon is in on it too. It’s worth some of his population getting killed to disarm Americans.
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