Victor Fazio: “Mr. Speaker, I think we all understand this provision in the rule this evening was an opportunity for people to rehash…”

“Mr. Speaker, I think we all understand this provision in the rule this evening was an opportunity for people to rehash the problems that beset this institution in the past that we are, thank God, well under way to resolving. But what I think is not something that was intended to be brought up tonight--but which is central to the whole question of the audit, which will be broadly supported on a bipartisan basis--is who will do the audit, how will it be administered? Now, the real issue here is who appoints the administrative authorities in this institution. There has been a change. When Republicans were in the minority, they wanted bipartisanship. They wanted equal access. They wanted professionalism. They wanted no taint of partisan activity. But now the worm has turned. Now the Republicans find themselves in the majority. What they have done is they have reversed the field. They have now called for a different structure, one that places in the hands of an administrator appointed by the Speaker the authority to manage this institution in a way that could become as partisan as we can imagine. I think that is tragic. I think that is wrong. And I support the audit, but I am very concerned about the way it will be managed by a partisan leader.”