House Holds Holder in Contempt of Congress

From USA Today:

The Republican-run House voted today to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, after a walkout by African-American Democratic lawmakers.

“Contempt power should be used sparingly, carefully and only in the most egregious situations,” said a letter from the 42-member Congressional Black Caucus to colleagues. “The Republican leadership has articulated no legislative purpose for pursuing this course of action. For these reasons, we cannot and will not participate in a vote to hold the attorney general in contempt.”

House Republican leaders criticized Holder for declining to release documents related to the botched gun-trafficking investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious. They also predicted some Democrats would vote for a contempt citation.

“We’d really rather have the attorney general and the president work with us to get to the bottom of a very serious issue,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. “Unfortunately, they’re not willing to show the American people the truth about what happened. It’s an unfortunate place where we are.”