Political Quotes

“I come to the floor to address my colleagues about a Federal agency that has forgotten that this Federal agency is supposed to be working for the American people. This is an agency that has gotten too big for its britches. Some of the officials have forgotten who pays their salary. The Food and Drug Administration is supposed to protect the American people, except lately the only thing the FDA bureaucrats seem to have any interest in is protecting themselves. According to whistleblowers and published reports in the Washington Post and in the New York Times, the agency in charge of safeguarding the American public and providing for the public safety has trampled on the privacy of its very own employees. The FDA mounted an aggressive campaign against employees who would dare to question its actions and created what the New York Times termed an ``enemies list'' of people it considered dangerous. It kind of reminds us of President Nixon and the IRS going after enemies. The Food and Drug Administration has been spying on this enemies list. The FDA has been spying on the personal e-mails of these employees and everybody these employees contacted. That includes their protected communications even with those of us in Congress. We would not have known the extent of the spying if internal FDA documents about it had not been released on the Internet, apparently just by accident.…”