Political Quotes

“let me first clarify two things that I think have been said here that are in error. One is that the inspector general has addressed the issue of whether the grants were proper or not. In a letter to me yesterday, she says that her investigation was restricted from that, and that that investigation continues to go on. So she has really not addressed that. We do not know whether or not the grant process, whether or not there was fraud or whether there was not. What we do know is that the letter of the law was not followed, that documents were manufactured. I think it does put us on the horns of a dilemma. The Department of Treasury has not dismissed this. They say they have serious concerns about this. What I am saying, and I am not speaking for my colleagues, I am not talking about the underlying intent of this program. I am not talking about the good it has done or that it could do. I am certainly not saying there is not a need in these communities for help and that there are some worthy goals. I am simply saying that when we take 271 applications and give four applicants about one-third of the money without a review process, and then take the other 267 and make them go through a review process, and then when I am charged as chairman of the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight to come in and review the process, and instead being told, hey, we do not have any paperwork on these four, these documents were put in there to mislead.”