Ben Cardin actually said...

"I just need your commitment that you are going to be guided by the role of your position and exercise that independence."

"I would say first of all you have mentioned the importance of independence, and I agree that the Chief Counsel needs to be an independent position."

"The reason why we have a Committee on Small Business is because of the importance of small business to our country."

"I personally thank her for some legislation that I worked on, that she found a path forward so that we could get that accomplished"