Political Quotes

“I thank my friend from Alabama for coming to the floor and proposing his amendment. I agree that there should be parity between the legislative and executive branches wherever it is appropriate. I am very happy to work with him. I must say that yesterday we made some progress on a somewhat similar amendment by Senator Paul to appropriately scope the amendment on requiring executive branch officials to report on their financial transactions to Senate-confirmed positions. I don't know whether that is the resolution here, but I think we should work on it. I want to state for the record that the executive branch is not free of conflict- of-interest regulations. In fact, in some sense you might say they have tougher restrictions. Even the SEC employees have to get permission before they can make stock transactions, and then they have to file disclosures not within 30 or 10 days but within 2 days, I believe. There are many other regulations on them. I think part of what is going on here is the nature of the two branches of Government to deal with conflicts of interest. We have focused on a system of disclosure and transparency. We have embraced the adage that sunlight is the best disinfectant.…”