Political Controversy Over Alteration of the Congressional Record
We all know that the Congressional Record is not an exact transcript of what occurs in Congress. Members of Congress are allowed to change, alter, add, and delete information before the Record is published.
But I've never heard before of members inserting into the Record such a lengthy "scripted colloquy that never actually took place" after legislation passed with the apparent attempt to construct a legislative history in retrospect. Senators Graham and Kyl filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in which they repeatedly cite this colloquy and claim it as "legislative history."
- Invisible Men: Did Lindsey Graham and Jon Kyl mislead the Supreme Court? By Emily Bazelon, Slate, March 27, 2006
- Senators Kyl and Graham's Hamdan v. Rumsfeld Scam: The Deceptive Amicus Brief They Filed in the Guantanamo Detainee Case, By John W. Dean, FindLaw, Jul. 05, 2006.
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Congressional Record changes
The Congressional Record is supposed to reflect what is actually said on the floor of Congress. The Joint Committee on Printing instituted the black dot in the CR to indicate when something is not said on the floor. This rule was passed by JCP as a result of Reprsentative Boggs being included in the CR as if he were actually speaking on the floor when he was on an airplane in Alaska that crashed. The JCP and the Senator Rules Committee pushed for televising the debate in order to keep it honest. This latest incident is not new but what is different is that the JCP used to monitor the CR closely and with the severe staff cuts it is difficult for them to track the CR.
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