Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I will take the time now to talk about the two other amendments that were made in order under the rule. One, I think Mr. Berman covered very adequately, about the automatic dismissal if a matter pending a vote on an investigation is not carried. If the matter is still pending for another 180 days, there would be an automatic dismissal. Under one of the amendments that was made in order. We should be aware that the current rules of the committee provide for no such action. Mr. Berman pointed out, and I concur, that when you put a deadline in a split vote causing a dismissal, you are encouraging that action. It is not difficult for a committee equally divided, Democrats and Republicans, to do nothing for 6 months, particularly if there is tremendous pressure from one of the political parties. If you have a person who is perceived to be the target of a political complaint, regardless of how meritorious that complaint might be, there will be tremendous pressure on the committee to break according to party line. Mr. Chairman, we had some difficult times over the past couple years; some very difficult matters appeared before our committee. But we were able to resolve all those issues, because we knew we had to get a bipartisan vote, that we could not just split along partisan lines. We resolved the issue.”