Political Quotes

“I happen to disagree with him on the conclusion he has reached--or apparently reached--relative to Mr. Lynn for reasons I will go into. Nonetheless, he has been an advocate of reform and he continues to do that. I will explain why I think, in this instance, his concerns do not fit the situation. In the first instance, when he suggested the President is changing the rules as we go along by providing a waiver to Mr. Lynn as part of the new Executive order, that is part of the Executive order. Let's not change the rules during the game. That is part of the rule President Obama has adopted in the new Executive order. It has some very stringent requirements. Part of them are waived by the President's Office of Management and Budget--in this case, for reasons they gave. Part of the new rule is not waived, the critical postemployment prohibition that applies to Mr. Lynn. I think that for the reasons given by President Obama's Budget Director, the waiver is a legitimate one, central in this case for the reasons given. By the way, when we talk about waivers, this is not at all unique. Mr. Lynn's situation is not in the least bit unique. Waivers have been given and provided in previous cases because senior officers have had experience in the private sector.”