John Tierney: “I cannot let go unanswered the comments of the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham) and the chairman about the…”

“I cannot let go unanswered the comments of the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham) and the chairman about the Department of Education, who, when they had some difficulty in one of their audits, responded more quickly than any other agency I can remember in righting that ship. It is amazing for people that do not want to get partisan, they neglect to note the fact that the Department of Defense financial statements for 1998 were less timely than ever and a record $1.7 trillion of unsupported adjustments were identified by auditors. The same was true roughly in the following year. They do not ask for the Department of Defense to be closed down, but both the Texas platform of the Republican Party and this party on the other side of the aisle is in favor of closing the Department of Education. They should be ashamed of raising an issue like that.”