Political Quotes

“with some but not a great deal of reluctance, I rise to oppose the amendment of my good friend from Michigan. Traditionally, the aggregate amount of funds spent to support our intelligence agencies has not been disseminated publicly. It is a classified amount. However, it is not unavailable to this House. There are six committees in Congress that have access to that number, three in the House, three in the other body: The Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Committee on National Security. Those committees are set up to receive this information, they are cleared for top secret, and they have the ability to absorb it and to do with it whatever is necessary in our democratic process. The classified records are available to be looked at. The gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Conyers] objects to that because you are then bound by an oath of secrecy. Well, then do not go look at it, but you have got six committees in this Congress to get that information. Why do we keep it secret? It is a mistake to think that the intelligence budgets of these agencies is a static thing. There are bumps. Sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down. What does that signify? It means we may be working on an expensive new weapons system, and that information ought not to be made available to those who wish us harm.”