Mr. Chair, when I was in the chair and I was having some people coming to the committee to testify, I essentially told the clerk to tell the people that if they chose not to show, then we could subpoena them. I think getting this from the officials, that they feel they can ignore the request of this committee, sets a bad precedent. When I was in the chair and my own party was in power at the time, when we had reluctance from the officials, I told Bill to tell them that if they didn't come, we'd subpoena them. If that's the way they want to play with this committee, then I think that's the appropriate response.
On June 19th, 2007. See this statement in context.