Political Quotes

“this Congress, the House and Senate, have passed important Federal contracting reforms, but neither body has assembled them into a comprehensive package. My ``clean contracting'' amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act consolidates these provisions into a single reform measure. I want to particularly thank Chairman Skelton for working with me to help bring this amendment before the House today. He has been a tremendous partner in the fight to root out waste, fraud and abuse. The clean contracting amendment would require agencies to enhance competition in contracting, limit the use of abuse-prone contracts, rebuild the Federal acquisition workforce, strengthen antifraud measures, and increase transparency in Federal contracting. The provisions of the amendment are based on provisions that have already passed the House or Senate, or are government-wide versions of Defense provisions that passed in last year's DOD authorization. They respond to procurement abuses that the Oversight Committee, the Armed Services Committees, and other committees have identified in hearings and investigative reports. The egregious procurement practices that have occurred in Iraq and in response to Hurricane Katrina and at the Department of Homeland Security need to be halted. They may enrich companies like Halliburton and Blackwater, but have squandered billions of dollars that belong to the taxpayer.”