| TRAFICANT, James A., Jr., |
Thursday, October 8, 1998
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant, Jr. (D–OH) will vote against a Republican-sponsored resolution calling for an open-ended impeachment inquiry by the House Judiciary Committee. Traficant does support a Democratic alternative which calls for the committee to conduct a limited inquiry to be completed by the end of December and focused on the 11 allegations submitted to the House by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr. The House will vote this afternoon on the GOP resolution. During House debate earlier today Traficant made the following statement:
"The prosecutor has asked us to indict the President of the United States on 11 counts. All 11 counts involve an intern. I'm not minimizing the gravity of this ladies and gentlemen. But this does not rise to the level of Watergate. Now let's be honest about that.
This prosecutor is required by law to submit all evidence to the House, which [in effect] is a grand jury. I must assume that he has. But I also say to the leaders of both parties, if he hasn't, he should be compelled today to deliver every piece of evidence he has on any pending investigation. That's our duty.
I'm going to support an inquiry today. But I am not going to support an extended soap opera. What the House has before it today is a 11-count indictment. We should be able to act on the predicate of that substance by the end of our terms. Kenneth Starr submitted it to the 105th Congress, not to a future Congress."