Frank Pallone

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, I want to say, because I have been here longer than the gentleman, and he has already told me that many times, the fact of the matter is I remember when the Democrats were in the majority. I was here from 1988 to 1994 when we were in the majority. The core of our being in the majority was oversight. That is what we did. That was our life blood. We spent more time on oversight than anything else. I remember specifically in my committee, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, every one of the subcommittees had oversight on health care, environment, consumer issues, energy, you name it. That was our MO. For all practical purposes, the Republicans have eliminated any real oversight. So you are absolutely right.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, Republican cronyism here in Washington is something that has become quite evident to people outside the Beltway in recent weeks. I just wanted to reference today an article in the last issue of Newsweek magazine by Jonathan Alter called ``Tom DeLay's House of Shame.'' It talks about how Mr. Alter a decade ago called on Tom DeLay in his ornate office in the Capitol and what he found there. Alter goes on to say, and I quote, ``Thus began what historians will regard as the single most corrupt decade in the long and colorful history of the House of Representatives. Never before has the leadership of the House been hijacked by a small band of extremists bent on building a ruthless shakedown machine, lining the pockets of their richest constituents and rolling back popular protections for ordinary people.'' He goes on to say that ``the 21st century radical Republican agenda, that is today, repeals health and safety regulations and spends billions on shameless pork-barrel projects to keep the GOP at the trough.'' The bottom line is that Republican cronyism is now evident to everyone.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize a distinguished athlete from my district, Carolina Panthers' Linebacker Coach Sam Mills. Unfortunately, after fighting cancer for two years, Mr. Mills passed away on April 18, 2005 at the age of 45. Not only did Mr. Mills play in the NFL for twelve seasons, he used his expertise to coach the Panthers' linebackers. Sam Mills played his first nine seasons with the New Orleans Saints and his last three with the Panthers. He earned five Pro Bowl selections, including one while playing for Carolina in 1996. Sam was the second member of the Panthers Hall of Fame and was elected to the Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey in 2003. Despite injuries to two of his best linebackers last season, Coach Mills led his linebacking corps to be an integral part of a defense that has ranked in the top ten for the past two seasons. John Fox, the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, stated upon Mills' passing, ``. . . as a coach he made the players better; as a friend he made us all better''. I ask my colleagues in the United States House of Representatives to join me in acknowledging the life and work of this exceptional individual. I wish to honor Coach Sam Mills for his ability to impart his skills and intelligence upon his players and for his outstanding career as both a professional player and coach.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. The Food and Drug Administration.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, if the gentleman will yield further, the gentleman did not get into the details because it is almost sickening to read. I just have to read this one thing in the article the gentleman is referencing where it says, ``Last week Marine Sergeant Todd Bowers, whose parents bought him a high-tech rifle scope said that the extra piece of equipment saved his life, and that a $100 pair of goggles he bought saved his eyesight when he was shot by a sniper.'' ``If you need any proof that the Pentagon is once again coming up short, all you need to do is take a look at the list of reimbursable items, Senator Dodd said. It does not include the gun scope that saved Todd Bowers' life.'' It is shameful. I could cry, to be honest with you. I am not trying to be dramatic. But to think that the parents had to buy the equipment to save their son's life, and now the administration, Pentagon does not want it to be reimbursable, I just cringe when I read about it, when the gentleman brought this to my attention. It is a shameful thing.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, if the gentleman will yield further, I am glad the gentlewoman brought that up. I would say what we are seeing in this energy bill, and this is unfortunate thing, in the same way that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita became an opportunity for corruption and cronyism in the awarding of contracts by the Republicans, we are seeing it is also becoming an excuse to basically waive all environmental regulation, affirmative action, prevailing wage and the list goes on. The waiver of environmental regulations and the effort to basically gut environmental protections is unbelievable. The gentlewoman mentioned the offshore oil drilling. But one of the other things that affects my State is the Clean Air Act provisions. In other words, in that bill, basically what the President and the Republican leadership have done is taken the opportunity to gut the Clean Air Act. They are essentially saying now that if an older plant that does not meet clean air restrictions under the current law wants to expand its capacity, that they can still expand the capacity using the older standards, which would allow a lot more air pollution to pollute the atmosphere. So whether it is clean water, whether it is clean air, whatever it happens to be, they are using the hurricane rather than it being an opportunity, as we have suggested, to try to rebuild and give people a new opportunity in life to rebuild their lives, it is being used as an excuse to basically run roughshod over all kinds of existing protections, whether they be affirmative action, environmental protection, whatever. Again, it is cronyism, because if I can take a power plant and I can expand it and pollute the atmosphere and save money that way, it is just another giveaway, if you will, to their friends, their special interests in the utility business.

Mr. PALLONE. And it will not. There is not anything in it.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, if the gentleman will further yield, just quickly all I am saying really is these are decisions about public health and safety. I mean, that is what we found in the aftermath of Katrina. We are talking about public health and safety, people's lives. I just want to have qualified people making decisions about health and safety issues. That is not asking much. And I understand that the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), who is on my committee, who is the ranking member on the Committee on Government Reform, has actually introduced legislation to require all political appointees holding Federal public safety positions meet minimum requirements of expertise, leadership and achievement. And I think that is crucial. He is one of our leading Democrats, ranking member on the Committee on Government Reform. It just makes sense that if someone is appointed to a position where they are going to be making decisions about public health and safety, they have to have some expertise for that position. So far, the Republicans have been resisting that and are not willing to go along with the gentleman from California's (Mr. Waxman) proposal.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I know that the gentleman could have continued to the Federal page that has a few more articles like this, but I just wanted to highlight one on the Federal page that says, ``Choice for Head of Wildlife Agency Provokes Dissent.'' Some people might say we are now talking about wildlife and fish and we are not talking about people, and I do not want to take away in any way from the comments that the gentleman from Florida made before because he was talking about the 9/11 Commission and the people who died at the World Trade Center. As I said, 200 from my district alone. But it is sort of ironic that this incompetence in terms of the officials that are appointed by the administration extends even to the Fish & Wildlife Agency. And I just want to highlight that. That is on page A25 of today's Washington Post. The gentleman from Florida pointed that out to me because I am the ranking member on the Fisheries and Oceans Subcommittee. If I could just reference this, this says ``This morning, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is likely to easily approve the nomination of Dale Hall, a regional director in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, to head the agency, making the full Senate vote a formality.'' It says, ``It's the kind of vote that makes environmentalists cringe. Hall, a 27-year Fish & Wildlife Service veteran, has infuriated wildlife activists, not to mention some of his staff, by not pushing more aggressively to protect threatened and endangered species.'' The Members know we just had a vote on that, trying to gut the Endangered Species Act, but that is not even the issue. It says: In May, he told agency biologists they should rely on the genetic science available at the time of a species' listing when deciding whether to recommend new safeguards, even if that science dated back to the 1970s. And they have some people who worked for him quoted here, saying, ``He consistently tries to get the staff to change the science.'' This is something that we have all the time with these incompetent people that are appointed to these agencies. They want to change the science. We cannot even rely on the science because they want to change it.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan). I forgot when I came down here that this was the 30-something Group. It is going to have to be the 50-something Group in my case. I know you have been down here talking about issues that are important to young people, and of course the issue you are talking about tonight is important to all of us. I want to say very bluntly that the reason that the Republicans do not want this independent investigation is because of a coverup. Essentially, they want to whitewash what they are doing. We have a whole culture here of corruption and cronyism in D.C. with the Republican Party. I think it has become quite evident to people outside of the Beltway there is a coverup, and they do not want people to know what is going on here. The most devastating example of this cronyism comes from the faces of the displaced and those left behind in New Orleans in the days following Hurricane Katrina. There was an editorial in the New York Times, September 26, that kind of sums it up in terms of why they do not want this independent investigation into Hurricane Katrina, and it is called ``Faking the Katrina Inquiry.'' It says that the White House and Republican-controlled Congress resisting popular support for an independent nonpartisan commission remain determined to run self-serving, bogus investigations. They mention in the editorial the case of David Safavian, who I noticed in today's Washington Post was indicted, and this guy was the White House's top Federal procurement official. He was already enmeshed in the lucrative gulf coast rebuilding plans when he had to resign abruptly to face arrest on charges of obstructing justice and a deepening investigation into lobbyist corruption in Washington. What the New York Times essentially says at the end of their editorial is there is no way to whitewash a hurricane. A government dominated by one party should be disqualified from investigating itself. Just as President Bush repeatedly fought the creation of the 9/ 11 Commission until public pressure forced him to yield, so should the public demand that the administration and Congress get real about Hurricane Katrina. So the point I am trying to make is it is not just the New York Times. Every major editorial I have seen in every paper around the country has said there should be an independent commission because obviously when you have one-party rule, which is what we have here in Washington, they cannot possibly investigate themselves. There has got to be some Democrats, some representatives from the other side of the aisle so the real face of this cronyism or cultural corruption is unveiled. If they have nothing to hide, there is no problem with an independent commission. It is because they have something to hide. Every day in the papers there is more and more about government contracts, no-bid contracts, things going to friends of the President and the Vice President. It is this culture of corruption that they are trying to hide. That is why they do not want to do this independent commission. We have to keep talking about this because it is getting to be more and more obvious every day that there is a coverup, they do not want to show what is going on, the no bids and everything else, that keeps surfacing every day in the media.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I know that when we heard about Michael Brown, the head of FEMA, and everybody knows how incompetent he was and what he did in the aftermath of the hurricane, basically did nothing, made things even worse, I think people initially thought maybe he is an exception. But what we are finding every day is that this is what this Bush administration does. They are constantly appointing people who are not qualified to their positions.

Mr. PALLONE. Two hundred died.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, earlier this summer the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting (NASPER) Act of 2005 was approved by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Bush. I rise today to recognize the important contributions of Dr. Laxmaiah Manchikanti and the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) in accomplishing this important achievement. Dr. Manchikanti is a physician of Indian origin who has practiced medicine in Paducah, Kentucky for the last 25 years. He is a well-known and well-respected physician with interests in many aspects of medicine, both in patient care, as well as academics. Dr. Manchikanti is a recognized leader in the circles of interventional pain management. Apart from his interest in the clinical practice of anesthesiology and interventional pain management, he is also proficient in administrative medicine, patient advocacy, the economics of healthcare, medical ethics and various other aspects of the profession. He is an avid clinical researcher with numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals with original contributions. Dr. Manchikanti currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians. With over 3,400 members, ASIPP is the largest organization in the country that represents physicians involved in trying to alleviate the intractable pain experienced by millions of Americans. Because of their professional involvement with pain medicine many ASIPP members have a vested interest in solving the problem of prescription drug abuse and diversion. Mr. Speaker, one of the fastest growing areas of drug abuse in our nation today is the diversion of prescription drugs. According to the National Institute of Health--National Institute on Drug Abuse, approximately 9 million Americans are misusers of prescription drugs. Furthermore, in 2001 the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, found statistically significant increases between 2000 and 2001 in the use of multiple drugs including non-medical use of pain relievers and tranquilizers. Prescription drug abuse is an issue that transcends societal boundaries, and affects all areas of our nation and all income levels. In an effort to prevent prescription drug abuse the NASPER Act establishes a federal system for electronic prescription databanks, which a doctor could access to determine what, if any, medication their patient should be given. From the very beginning, Dr. Manchikanti and his colleagues at ASIPP have played a crucial role in the development of the NASPER Act. Thanks to their active involvement and insightful guidance, we were able to craft a thoughtful policy that will give physicians, pharmacists, and law enforcement agents the tools necessary to curb prescription drug abuse. Mr. Speaker, next week ASIPP will hold its 7th annual legislative session in Washington. I would like to welcome ASIPP to our nation's capital, and offer my gratitude for all of their efforts over the past several years. Thanks to the hard work of Dr. Manchikanti and all of his colleagues the NASPER Act has finally become law and we can begin to address this very serious public health concern. I must emphasize that this is only the beginning. There is still a lot of important work left to be done in terms of implementing and enforcing this new law. I am looking forward carrying my partnership with Dr. Manchikanti and ASIPP forward, as we continue to work together to help eliminate prescription drug abuse.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, on August 14, we will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of Social Security, and that is 70 years of a guaranteed, promised benefit to all Americans of a certain age. I have to say, I was interested to note that I looked on the Social Security Administration Web site, and I did not see any mention of the 70th anniversary. I think the reason is clear. This President, who basically is trying to dismantle Social Security, does not want the Social Security Administration to celebrate this landmark achievement. Now, the President and House Republicans want Americans to forget how important Social Security has been for seniors and for the disabled for the last 70 years. It is a guaranteed benefit the Republicans want to turn into a risky privatization plan. I know that the President continues to be on the road pushing his risky privatization plan. Most recently he was there with his mom, Mrs. Bush. And we are hearing that when we come back after the August break, we are going to see the Republican leadership in the House once again move forward with their privatization plan that is going to only aggravate Social Security's insolvency. Remember: 70 years of a guaranteed benefit.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) for yielding me this time. I rise in strong support of the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act, or NASPER, legislation which has been mentioned that the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield) has introduced, along with myself, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood), and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland). This critical legislation provides an avenue for addressing the illegal diversion and misuse of prescription drugs. Prescription drug abuse constitutes one of the fastest growing areas of drug abuse in our Nation today, affecting people of all areas of our Nation, all ages, and all income levels. Health care practitioners and pharmacists desperately need electronic prescription drug monitoring systems to ensure that they are only prescribing and dispensing schedule II, III, and IV controlled substances that are medically necessary. This bill provides the resources to States to create and operate State-based drug monitoring programs, allows physicians to access this information, and allows for States to communicate with one another. NASPER would help physicians prevent their patients from becoming addicted to prescription medications and would help law enforcement with criminal investigations in the illicit prescription drug market. NASPER legislation represents a work of great bipartisan and bicameral effort, and I want to thank the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield), the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood), the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland), obviously the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown). And I also want to mention my staff person who is no longer with me, Kathy Kulkarni, but worked very hard on this legislation. In the other body, Senator Sessions, Senator Kennedy, and Senator Durbin, all of these people have been willing to move forward with this effort both here in the House, and it will be taken up in the Senate to alleviate the prescription drug abuse problem plaguing our Nation. In addition, I applaud the tremendous leadership of the American Society for Interventional Pain Physicians for working with Congress in this significant public health initiative. Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this critical measure to help our health care providers begin to stem the burgeoning problems of prescription drug abuse.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, for 2 years now, the White House has engaged in a cover-up of who leaked the identity of an undercover CIA agent. Two years ago, President Bush said he wanted to know who had leaked Valerie Plame's identity to reporters, and he said whoever it was would be fired. Today we learned the special prosecutor has widened his investigation to see if any laws were broken when the White House tried to discredit allegations that President Bush used faulty intelligence to justify the Iraq war. Now, this entire investigation centers around national security. White House officials jeopardized our national security when they outed a CIA agent's name. They also jeopardized our national security when they tried to discredit anyone who did not support their faulty intelligence that took us to war in Iraq. Mr. Speaker, this investigation should never have been needed in the first place. If the President's words had meant something, this would have been completed a long time ago.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, for 2 years now the Bush White House has covered up its involvement in the leaking of a CIA agent's identity. Now it appears members of the administration are also misleading a grand jury investigating whether or not any laws were broken when Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and possibly others leaked Valerie Plame's identity to reporters. According to reports over the weekend, Cheney's chief of staff, Scooter Libby, told the grand jury that he first heard about Valerie Plame's identity from NBC's Tim Russert, but Russert claims that that was impossible since he did not even know Plame was a CIA agent. In the meantime, Karl Rove told the grand jury that his conversation with Time magazine's Matt Cooper was mostly about welfare reform until Rove leaked Valerie Plame's identity at the end of the conversation. But Cooper says he and Rove never discussed welfare reform. Instead, he says, the entire conversation was about Plame. Now, despite these alarming discrepancies, Bush continues to support both men. Mr. Speaker, our covert CIA agents needs President Bush to stand firm against these actions now.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, it has almost been 2 weeks since we first learned Karl Rove leaked the identity of Valerie Plame to a reporter at Time, and then confirmed the identity for Bob Novak. Yesterday we learned that a State Department document including the information about Plame's CIA ties also included a giant ``S'' on it, meaning that the information was secret. For 2 weeks now, some Republicans have said that Rove did nothing wrong because the information leaked to the reporters was not confidential. Well, now we know that is simply not true and the giant ``S'' on the State Department document proves it. It is now clear the information Rove leaked to the reporters was secret and should not have been shared. When Rove became Bush's right-hand man, he signed a classified information nondisclosure agreement. In that agreement he vowed to keep quiet about intelligence information until he could confirm that it was not classified. Mr. Speaker, at the very least President Bush should revoke Karl Rove's security clearance. Rove has clearly shown that he cannot be trusted, and yet he continues to have access to information critical to our national security. I really think it is time for the President to fire Karl Rove.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take the time of the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff).

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday July 20 marked the 31st anniversary of an illegal and inexcusable act by Turkey. Thirty-one years ago yesterday Turkish military forces illegally invaded Cyprus, forcing nearly 200,000 Greek Cypriots from their homes. And these Greek Cypriots became refugees in their own country and have remained refugees for the past 3 decades. Mr. Speaker, the U.N. Security Council resolved in both 1974 and 1975 that the Turkish occupiers had to facilitate the safe return of all refugees to their homes. For 31 years, Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has defiantly refused to abide by these U.N. resolutions. Furthermore, in December of 1996 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that refugee Titina Loizidou be given access to her property in the occupied territory. And once again this court ruling was met with defiance from the Turkish occupiers. After waiting for 2 years for Turkey to comply, Loizidou then went back to the European Court again and this time asking that the Turkish government compensate her for the property. The European Court ruled the Turkish government should pay Loizidou 458,000 Cyprus pounds. And it has now been 7 years and the Turkish government still refuses to comply. Mr. Speaker, Turkey's intransigence is unacceptable and must come to an end. Earlier this year I joined the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) and the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney), the co- chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues, in introducing legislation that would put this House on record in support of the European Court's decisions and expressing our desire that the Court hear more cases regarding illegal seizures of Cypriot property by the Turkish Cypriot regime. Turkey's refusal to comply with these court decisions should not go unnoticed by this House, and that is why it is important that we pass this important resolution. Mr. Speaker, Cypriot-Americans are among the refugees that are being denied access to their property by Turkey. Since these Americans cannot return to their illegally seized property, I believe these Cypriot- Americans should be allowed to seek financial remedies with either the current inhabitants of their land or the Turkish government itself. So earlier this year I introduced the bipartisan American Owned Property in Occupied Cyprus claims Act. The legislation authorizes the President to initiate a claims program under which the claims of U.S. nationals who Turkey has excluded from their property can be judged before the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission. If this commission determined that Cypriot-Americans should be compensated for their property, negotiations would then take place between the United States and Turkey to determine the proper compensation. My legislation would also empower U.S. District courts to hear causes of action against either the individuals who now occupy those properties or the Turkish government. Passage of this legislation is particularly crucial today as reports show sharp increases in the number of unlawful investments of occupied properties and a construction boom on land that continues to be owned by approximately 170,000 Greek-Cypriots, many of whom are now U.S. citizens. The source of this disturbing trend is the decision of the Turkish occupation regime to permit current possessors of property to transfer such property to third parties. And today there is a mistaken impression among buyers of such properties that unlawful investments in occupied territories will be safeguarded in the future. As a result, a secondary market involving transactions in legal properties has arisen, as illegal occupiers of the land have begun to sell their alleged ownership to third parties, including corporations and Europeans. Now, Mr. Speaker, these actions only exacerbate the difficult property issues that must be addressed before the Cyprus issue can be solved. And it is important that in looking at this conflict, both the United States and the United Nations do not forget Turkey's 30-year defiance of U.N. court decisions relating to the illegal seizure of property. Some 200,000 refugees have waited 31 years to either return to their homes or to receive proper compensation. And, Mr. Speaker, it is my hope that direct negotiations will begin again soon, and that we can finally end Turkey's 31-year illegal occupation of Cyprus.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, one of my Republican colleagues from Texas just said that Karl Rove is his friend and is innocent until proven guilty and that Democrats should not criticize the Bush administration on this issue. Republicans need to realize how serious Rove's actions were. Karl Rove's actions jeopardize the life of every CIA agent, every CIA agent that Valerie Plame ever came into contact with. President Bush's father, a former CIA director, believes it so serious that he said that people who expose CIA agents are the most insidious of traitors. Rather than demand answers from Rove, congressional Republicans are either silent or are attacking Democrats. They should be asking how Rove had the very information about Valerie Plame from the beginning, and they should deny him any further security clearance. For 2 years, the Republicans and the Bush White House have defended Rove, and now we know that everything that they were telling us was simply false. It is time for Bush to remove Rove from the White House. It is time for Republicans to take this seriously and not come up here and talk about their friends and criticize Democrats.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I guess the Republican leadership is now condoning Karl Rove's behavior, but think about what the previous President Bush said about this. On September 30, 2003, and I am quoting President Bush, this is the current President Bush, ``If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is, and if the person violated the law, the person will be taken care of.'' Well, that was nice talk then, but now it appears that it was all talk. The Republican leadership has no problem condoning Karl Rove's behavior and his leak. On Monday we learned that Karl Rove leaked Valeria Plame's identity, an act that Bush's father called treasonous. Rove's actions were an outrageous abuse of power, but the longer President Bush allows him to remain on the job, the more it looks like the President is condoning activity that his own father called treasonous. It is amazing to me that the Republican leadership is now willing to come to the floor and say that that is okay. It is outrageous. Listen to what the previous President Bush said: ``Don't let this stonewall continue on the part of the White House.'' It is time that Karl Rove come clean. It is time that the President force him to resign.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, it appears that either President Bush's righthand man Karl Rove was deceiving his boss or the Bush administration was deceiving the American people in regards to the leak of a CIA agent's identity to the press. When asked in September 2003 if he had any knowledge or leaked the name of the CIA agent to the press, Rove simply answered, ``no.'' The deception continued earlier this month when, on July 4th, Rove simply amended his previous statements by saying, ``I'll repeat what I said to ABC News when this whole thing broke some number of months ago, I didn't know her name, didn't leak her name.'' Last week, after Newsweek reported that the leak came from Rove, Rove's attorney shot back and said Rove ``did not tell any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA.'' Well, now Karl Rove's attorney is admitting that Rove did tell a reporter that Joseph Wilson's wife was a CIA agent. Sounds like a leak to me. So, it is now time for President Bush to ask for Karl Rove to go.