Political Quotes

“Congress has never met its obligation under the ``Statement of Account Clause'' of the Constitution (Article I, Section 9, Clause 7) which states: No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time. I rise to point out that Congress has failed to provide the American public with any account of expenditures on intelligence activities. I stress that Congress has failed to satisfy this clause because, although the Executive may have an opinion as to the desirability of disclosing the aggregate amount spent on intelligence, the Supreme Court decided in United States v. Richardson, (418 U.S. 166, 178 n. 11) that ``it is clear that Congress has plenary power to exact any reporting and accounting it considers appropriate in the public interest.'' Thus it falls to us to provide a proper accounting of the disbursements of Government funds spent on intelligence activities.”