Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, we are not turning over anything to anybody outside of this institution. We are not turning over anything. The resolution before us restricts the rights of non-Members to file complaints. It is more restricted than the current rules. So let us please stick to what the facts are. We have, we think, imposed reasonable standards on what non-Members should have to comply with in order to file a complaint with our committee. We used as precedent the rules of the other body, and in the other body non-Senators can file complaints based upon personal knowledge. They cannot be based upon newspaper accounts. We think that is the appropriate way. We believe it is an improvement over the current system. Mr. Chairman, we have been operating under these procedures since we adopted ethics rules in this House. Every time we have had a bipartisan effort to reform the process, we have tried to improve the process. If this amendment is adopted, I will make two observations: It will be the first major change in our ethics rules that will be done on a partisan basis because it did not go through the bipartisan operation that we had agreed with. And it will be the first major retreat, the first major retreat and pull-back of ethics procedures in this House. That would be, I think, a sad day for the House of Representatives.”