Political Quotes

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I rise in very strong support of the Scalise amendment, and let me explain why. One word: accountability. Americans across this country are tired of the lack of accountability. They want to know what is going on with their government, and they are tired of empty platitudes. We have seen this when we brought Cabinet Secretaries and others who are in official positions in front of our committees, and we can't get answers to simple questions on energy policy, tax policy, health care policy. No, we get empty platitudes, because the policy is being formulated in the White House with these so-called advisers, these czars, whatever you want to call them. I just want to point out something. When we had this situation with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and a panel of experts, engineers, scientists, came forth and looked at this and gave their initial report, there was no recommendation for an industry-wide moratorium on drilling. They issued a formal report. And what happened? This formal report was altered after the fact by somebody within the White House, the so-called Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change. Now, this is not the kind of open and transparent policymaking that the American people deserve and demand. I think in the last election they spoke out because they did not like what was happening, the lack of oversight.”