Now that the Supreme Court has made the final legal decision in the Elian Gonzalez matter, I would like to offer a few concluding thoughts. I have believed since the beginning of this controversy that Elian Gonzalez and his father should be reunited. I have also believed that Juan Miguel Gonzalez should be allowed to make a free decision about where his family would live.

I have been gratified that Elian has been largely protected from the glare of the public eye during the time since he has been reunited with his father. Now that Mr. Gonzalez has decided to return to Cuba with Elian, I hope that Elian continues to receive the same protection and respect for his privacy. It would be profoundly disturbing if Fidel Castro turned Elian Gonzalez into a symbol of his decaying regime. Throughout this prolonged dispute, too many people on all sides of this issue have attempted to reduce Elian to a symbol. I have criticized those efforts when they came from those who wanted to separate Elian and his father, and I will criticize those efforts if they come from those who wanted to reunite them.

In terms of this Committee’s investigation, the extensive documentation that this Committee has already obtained has revealed no evidence that the government acted improperly in any way in its handling of the Elian Gonzalez matter. In my view, reuniting Elian Gonzalez and his father was the legally and morally right thing to do, and I approve of the Administration’s handling of the matter. The American people seem to have reached the same conclusion as I have. I hope that we as a Committee can reach the conclusion that further hearings on the Elian Gonzalez matter will be counterproductive and should be avoided.

At the very least, we should rescind the subpoena to the Secretary of State that was reported at Tuesday’s executive business meeting. The majority had told the minority in no uncertain terms that the subpoena would not be considered on Tuesday. As a result of this representation, the minority members of the Committee were lulled into not realizing until it was too late that the Chairman had quickly sought approval for and obtained the subpoena. No voice or roll-call vote was taken on the issue, in contrast to our standard practice in considering subpoenas for the Executive Branch on both the Elian Gonzalez matter and this Committee’s other investigations. The majority has indicated that it is willing to undo the subpoena vote – I urge that we take that step without further delay.

As for the subpoena itself, it seems to me to be unnecessary, both because the State Department is cooperating fully with this Committee and because there is no reason to believe that the State Department possesses any documents that are even relevant to the law enforcement operation that is the subject of the Committee’s inquiry. The State Department has been entirely receptive to working with this Committee to get it any requested information in a cooperative fashion. In addition, the State Department came the week before last to brief the Chairman’s and my staff, a briefing that I understand went a long way toward answering whatever questions this Committee may have had about the State Department’s involvement, if any, in the Justice Department’s operation to reunite Elian Gonzalez and his father. I also understand that the State Department has certified that it does not have any documents in its possession that are responsive to the subpoena on this week’s agenda. Furthermore, the Department has volunteered to provide additional documents that have been informally sought by members of this Committee, and is in the process of collecting such documents.