Austin Scott: “Will the gentleman yield for one moment, and don't you agree, there is such a thirst on the part of the American people…”

“Will the gentleman yield for one moment, and don't you agree, there is such a thirst on the part of the American people for their confidence to be restored in this process, that was what was evident in last fall's election, that nobody is saying cut and run, nobody is saying that you will be unpatriotic if you speak to this. They want us to speak to this. They want us to do our job, and I think that is what you were pointing out in your remarks. One of the two points I wanted to mention too that you alluded to in our House Resolution 97, that I would like for you to be able to expand upon, and that is that the American people need to know that in this bill we will require the inspector generals of the Defense Department, of the Pentagon, to come before this Congress quarterly, not once a year, every 90 days, quarterly, to make reports on how the money is being spent. Never again, never again, will our veterans be suffering in the condition that our veterans are suffering now. The American people are appalled at that. They want some transparency. They want some accountability. You talked about earlier, we talked about Halliburton. We talked about the abuse, the contracting. In this bill, we have made sure that the Inspector General for the Iraqi Reconstruction Program comes before this Congress and gives quarterly reports on how that money is being spent, no more waste, no more fraud, no more war profiteering.”