Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I join with the chairman in support of all of the changes that were added in the Senate, they were thoughtful, and I believe not just appropriate but necessary. I don't want to pile on the same statements made already because they were accurate and I agree with them. Rather, because there has been fairly public pushback from some members of the Article III court that we are meddling in their business, I have given it a lot of thought and discussed it with a number of scholars. I think the American people need to understand that the executive branch does not have the authority to pass laws, and the judicial branch does not have the ability to pass laws. When it comes to establishing laws for transparency reporting and the American people's right to know, there is, in fact, only one body that can initiate and send for the President's signature statutes of transparency and accountability. So even though this is a 1978 law being modified, the fact that there is pushback from a branch saying that under separation of powers we are somehow meddling by substantially harmonizing what the executive branch and this branch do to make sure the American people have confidence in what we own that might, in fact, be influencing what we do. It seems to be one of those areas in which I believe the American people, properly explained, would fully support.…”