On July 24, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) held Gonzales' feet to the fire on the Hometown Heroes Act. Here is that exchange.

Leahy: In 2003 Congress unanimously passed the Hometown Heroes Act … more than 3 1/2 years after that, the justice department used its regulatory authority to shift the burden of proof from the government to the families. There's been 260 applications, you approved only 14 claims of those 260, denied 47 others. People are really concerned, it seems like a stall…. nothing gets approved.

Let me give you one example of what your department denied. It denied benefits to a U.S. Forest Service firefighter in Arizona. He was standing closer than I am to you, behind a fire line with a shovel in his hand working to contain that. And your department said it couldn't determine whether he was engaged in strenuous activity at the time of his heart attack. I don't know what you consider strenuous activity, but I think if I was standing this close to a fire line with a shovel in my hand trying to contain a forest fire, I would certainly consider it more strenuous than my normal day's activities.

What are you going to do to knock down these kinds of bureaucratic delays? This is picayune, petty, and its wrong to the families of some very, very brave people. It makes many of us in both parties feel, the president may have signed this law, he may not have put in a signing statement, which he often does to ignore the law, but by God he's going to make sure the bureaucracy ignores it. What are you going to do to clear that up?

Gonzales: You're right. It has taken us too long, and I apologize to the families. There are two reasons for the delay. One of course is the regulations, which took us much too long — three years. Part of the fact is is that we wanted to consult with the medical community and with law enforcement to ensure that we have the right regulatory framework in place, but it still took us too long. The second area of delay is the actual processing of claims and we have to do a better job of educating …

Leahy: Clear it up.

Gonzales: Yes sir. That's what I said. I agree.

Leahy: Report back to Senator [Arlen] Specter [R-Pa] and I on that.