Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I join my distinguished colleague in commending the work of Senator Dodd and Senator Shelby and the privilege of offering this amendment now with Senator Cardin. I rise to support the transparency amendment, No. 4050, introduced by Senator Cardin on behalf of myself, Senator Durbin, Senator Schumer, Senator Feingold, Senator Merkley, Senator Johnson, and Senator Whitehouse. This amendment builds on language introduced in the Energy Security Through Transparency Act of 2009. If passed, the amendment would help to reverse the ``resource curse'' by revealing payments made here and abroad to governments for oil, gas, and minerals. The Senate debate on financial regulatory reform has included a great deal of debate on transparency. Transparency empowers citizens, investors, regulators, and other watchdogs and is a necessary ingredient of good governance for countries and companies alike. Adoption of the Cardin-Lugar amendment would bring a major step in favor of increased transparency at home and abroad. Its passage would empower investors to have a more complete view of the value of their holdings. It would bring more information to global commodity markets, which would benefit price stability. More importantly, it would help empower citizens to hold their governments to account for the decisions made by their governments in the management of valuable oil, gas, and mineral resources and revenues.…”