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1 (2015)

handle is hein.cbhear/fdsysagpd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: AUT-ENTICATED US. GOVERNMENT INFORMATION GP COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RE- LATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2016 THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2015 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met at 10:32 a.m., in room SD-192, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Richard C. Shelby (Chairman) pre- siding. Present: Senators Shelby, Alexander, Murkowski, Collins, Kirk, Boozman, Capito, Mikulski, Leahy, Feinstein, Coons, Baldwin, and Murphy. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE STATEMENT OF HON. LORETTA E. LYNCH, ATTORNEY GENERAL OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR RICHARD C. SHELBY Senator SHELBY. The subcommittee will come to order. Welcome to today's Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee hearing examining the Department of Justice's fiscal year 2016 budget re- quest. First, let me welcome Attorney General Loretta Lynch to her first hearing before this subcommittee as she assumes the impor- tant responsibility of serving as our Nation's chief law enforcement officer. Welcome. As you begin your term as Attorney General, I be- lieve that it is critical for you to return the Office of Attorney Gen- eral to its constitutional purpose, which is to enforce the laws of the land, not the decrees and whims of the President. The President has a White House counsel and plenty of attorneys arguing for his points of view on immigration, privacy, environ- mental regulations and more. The Attorney General, I believe, is the servant of the laws and citizens of the United States, not the President. I want to encourage you, Madam Attorney General, to consider this perspective carefully as you begin your service in a job that is critical to our democracy and to the rule of law. I am deeply troubled by your support of the President's unilat- eral Executive actions, which provide amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. Fortunately, the sweeping policy change undertaken without input from Congress has been stayed by the courts while a detailed review is conducted through the lens of the law and the Constitution. I hope that while this litigation is pending, progress will be made on key responsibilities that are within the Depart- (1)