Political Quotes

“earlier this afternoon we voted on a good government proposal that would have improved accountability for taxpayer dollars. That amendment focused on grants awarded by the Department of Justice. Soon we will be voting to repeal another good government measure; that is, the provision to ensure that government contractors pay their taxes by requiring that governments withhold 3 percent from payments to contractors as prepayment for their taxes. The provision was enacted in direct response to a series of Government Accountability Office, or GAO, reports about Federal contractors not paying their taxes. I have always said that taxpayers should pay what they owe--not a penny more, and not a penny less. And several GAO reports indicate that information reporting and upfront withholding significantly improve compliance. In fact, that is why the Federal Government withholds taxes from individual paychecks. Since the provision was enacted, I have heard repeatedly about the costs of implementation. I am disappointed by the misinformation that has been spread by the various outside groups--just like the ones that lobbied against my Justice Department grant amendment today. Specifically, one fictitious estimate by an outside group states that the cost to implement this provision is $75 billion. There is another made-up estimate that it would cost the Department of Defense $17 billion to implement this provision.…”