Holder Contempt Vote Postponed

Republicans blink - again.

House Oversight and Government Reform chair Darrell Issa, R-Calif., agreed to postpone the vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress if the Justice Department delivers 1,300 pages of documents to his committee before the vote is scheduled to take place.

"While I do have substantial concerns that these documents may not be sufficient to allow the committee to complete its investigation, delivery of these documents to the Committee before the scheduled consideration of contempt vote at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 20, 2012, would be sufficient to justify the postponement of the proceeding to allow for the review of the materials," Issa wrote in a letter to Holder today. "I am prepared to announce this delay once the Department produces these documents."

Holder offered to give Issa the 1,300 pages in a letter yesterday, as part of a compromise designed to avert being held in contempt for obstructing the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious, a United States-sanctioned gunwalking scheme that led to the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

This compromise may only be a brief reprieve. Issa has subpoenad 140,000 pages of material that Holder has refused to deliver, despite giving the documents to the Justice Department's inspector general.