Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn offered an amendment this week to bar taxpayer funds from being used in investigations such as the disastrous "Fast & Furious" operation, in which guns were transferred to Mexican drug cartels with the help of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).  His amendment passed the Senate unanimously on Tuesday.

"Today's bipartisan effort is just the first step towards ensuring that such a foolish operation can never be repeated by our own law enforcement,” Mr. Cornyn said in a statement.  “The onus is now on Attorney General Holder to hear not just today's bipartisan call for answers but the American peoples' demands that Washington be held accountable.”

Offered to the $128 billion Justice Department spending bill, the Cornyn amendment prohibits taxpayer funds from being used “to allow the knowing transfer of firearms to agents of drug cartels where law enforcement personnel of the United States do not continuously monitor or control such firearms at all times.”

Sen. Cornyn has expressed concernthat operations similar to Fast & Furious, which was based out of Phoenix, Arizona, were also being conducted in Texas.

In August, Cornyn sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, noting that "the Department of Justice has been less than forthcoming during congressional investigations into the failed Operation Fast and Furious.