Political Quotes

“reserving the right to object, I respect deeply and in fact support the arguments made by my colleague from Florida. There are goals here to be served, and I strongly support them as well. Accountability has been lacking for too long in the Department of Veterans Affairs. That is a simple fact on which we can all agree. In fact, we took a major step in the right direction with the passage of the access and accountability act during the last session with bipartisan support. I would support this measure if a number of simple changes were made to it to comply with the Constitution. This measure lacks some of the basic constitutional guarantees that again and again the Supreme Court of the United States has said are absolutely mandatory. This bill, unfortunately, fails to provide sufficient notice in advance of any firing or disciplinary action, a statement of cause, a right to be heard, and an opportunity for basic administrative constitutional guarantees. I commit to work with my colleague from Florida on seeking to improve this bill. In fact, I have proposed a measure that is now pending in the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, S. 1856, which will improve the management of the VA in many of the same ways, but it avoids these constitutional pitfalls. As a former attorney general, I care deeply about enforcement, which is to say effective enforcement.…”