Victor Fazio: “I rise in support of this proposal, and I do so not because I feel there will be any great revelations that might…”

“I rise in support of this proposal, and I do so not because I feel there will be any great revelations that might satisfy those who would like to find problems here in the institution, but I think audits have been, should be, and will be in the future absolutely essential to restoring public trust in an institution that has come under I think consistent unfair criticism over a long period of time. I am particularly concerned, though, that as we manage these audits, and I might say that the language in the document we are dealing with tonight is rather imprecise, we have to ask ourselves the question about how we will function in this new Republican majority. For a number of years, Republicans have been adamant about bringing about bipartisanship in the manner in which we run this institution. The rules package Republicans offered in the last Congress called for a nonpartisan administration committee, equally numbered with Members of both parties, quite apart from whatever party was in the majority here. They even asked for that complete bipartisanship with equal representation on the Legislative Branch Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations. We asked to have in place management of the House that was totally nonpartisan.”