Bill Clinton: “from day one, the Bush administration has pursued an aggressive agenda of privatizing essential Government services…”

“from day one, the Bush administration has pursued an aggressive agenda of privatizing essential Government services, even when there has existed overwhelming evidence that doing so would waste money, impair accountability, harm citizens who rely on those services, or jeopardize our Nation's safety and security. The Kennedy-McCaskill amendment on civilian contracting will slow this agenda and bring some much needed common sense to the administration's campaign to outsource essential functions to the private sector. Among other reforms, the amendment will nullify an edict imposed from outside the Department of Defense that the agency contract out a certain number of jobs regardless of the merits; give Federal employees the same rights to challenge a contracting decision that are now enjoyed by private contractors; and eliminate a wasteful rule that civilian jobs automatically be recompeted at the end of each performance period. I am a strong supporter of the Kennedy-McCaskill amendment, which will serve as an important check on the administration's privatization agenda.”