Political Quotes

“the cornerstone of Congress's ability to effectively oversee the Federal Government is the free and open access to information--in other words, congressional oversight, what I was talking about in regard to Fast and Furious. On another investigation 231 days ago, on April 27, I made a very simple request. I requested that the Federal Communications Commission turn over communications regarding its controversial approval of the LightSquared project. LightSquared is a company owned by a hedge fund called Harbinger Capital Partners that is seeking FCC approval to use its satellite spectrum to build a terrestrial wireless network. To accomplish its goals, LightSquared has already spent millions of dollars on lobbyists and made large political donations. The problem is that LightSquared's signals would, according to Federal Government tests, cause massive interference with the global positioning system, more commonly referred to as GPS. GPS, as you know, is a critical tool for anything from military drones and missiles to car and ship navigation. LightSquared's initial plan, which the FCC conditionally approved, would have interfered with just about every single GPS user. The surprising fact is that there is no evidence the FCC even tested LightSquared's plan before approving it. In fact, the FCC granted this waiver--which is estimated to be worth at least $10 billion to LightSquared--in a shortened comment period starting right around Thanksgiving, 2010.…”