Political Quotes

“I've got good news for my friends from Arizona and from Iowa. This is the last amendment that I plan to offer on this bill. It would reduce the proposed funding for the Amtrak Office of Inspector General's Salaries and Expenses by $4,800,000 and transfer that same amount to the Spending Reduction Account. Like many of the amendments that I've offered today, it would simply remove a proposed increase, returning the final amendment back to current spending levels. The Amtrak IG's role is to root out waste, fraud and abuse within the corporation. As I detailed during consideration of my earlier amendment related to Amtrak, I am of the opinion that the IG still has a ways to go in this regard. Yet, the committee report includes an interesting statement which appears to serve as a pat on the back for the OIG, and perhaps even as a justification for this large proposed increase. The line simply says: ``The Committee appreciates that the Amtrak OIG submitted a separate budget request to the Committees on Appropriations and directs it to do so in Fiscal Year 2015.'' Now, to my read, this means that simply because the OIG did his job, it will receive nearly $5 million in extra Federal dollars for salaries and expenses. I think that's preposterous. Madam Chairman, I talked a lot about Amtrak's failings earlier, and I'm not going to rehash the same arguments. I only ask that my colleagues support my amendment.…”