Political Quotes

“I rise in opposition to the Coburn amendment. I am not going to go into the process of wanting to keep the bill as free of amendments as possible which has been something the House has requested us to do. This is the continuing resolution. It is not the authorization legislation and so on. We have to get this funded for the rest of the fiscal year 2013. I wish to comment about the Senator from Oklahoma in that he is often on to something very good. Sometimes we are so worried about clinging to party positions we don't listen to one another. He has been a big help to me on my Commerce-Justice-Science bill, where we uncovered just ridiculous catering situations, and we had a very good amendment one time that addressed an agency paying $4 for each meatball at some reception. I mean, truly folly, truly stupidity. So at this time, whether it is big government or small government but smart government, we do have to have a sense of frugality. However, I will come back to this: The Coburn amendment would propose a hiring freeze on all Federal employees except those deemed essential. In late February, OMB issued guidance instructing agencies to apply increased scrutiny to areas such as new hiring and to ensure that such actions were taken only when vital to carrying out the agency's mission as a result of the uncertainty in terms of agencies facing a possible government shutdown on March 27 and the Draconian sword of sequester that is already underway.…”