Political Quotes

“Madam President, I would like to say to my colleague, Ted Kennedy said to me when I first got here a number of years ago, talking about compromise and that sort of thing--he always said: I am willing to compromise on policy, not on principle. I think if we look at what we have accomplished in the last 2 years, that is exactly what we have done. I thank my colleague for being a great leader--not just of his caucus but of our body and for being my friend. With that, I would say on the legislation that is before us, as he suggested, the Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act does build on previous legislation reported out of our committee. Some of those bills, the DATA Act, the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act, and some others have been signed into law with bipartisan support, including by the current President. The Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act is a good government bill that will provide better and more detailed information to Congress and the American people about Federal spending. Congress has passed several bills in the last few years to improve transparency on government spending and to get this information online. Unfortunately, the information has not always been provided at the level of detail taxpayers and a number of my colleagues and I would prefer. This bill builds on the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act passed in 2010 and that I coauthored with Senators Warner and Akaka.…”