Haley Stevens: “this amendment has more than a whiff of politics in it. If I had the power to do so, I would close the room and turn on…”

“this amendment has more than a whiff of politics in it. If I had the power to do so, I would close the room and turn on some fans. This is the most outrageous amendment I have heard in my time in the Senate in 35 years. As a practical matter, it is also wrong. Contracts were bid. Brown and Root contracts were bid. The December contracts were entered into for Bosnia, Kosovo, by the last administration. The Vice President stated what the Senator from New Jersey said in part. He did not say fully what the Vice President said. Let me say what the Vice President said on September 14: I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had now for over three years. And as Vice President, I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape or form, of contracts let by the Corps of Engineers or anybody else in the federal government . . . The Vice President has a deferred compensation obligation from his former employer. He has no financial interest in Halliburton. The Senator's amendment cleverly works through a connection to the Vice President because he does have a deferred compensation concept. He has a right to receive money that was owed to him by Halliburton before he left that company for work he did before he left that company. The deferred compensation is money the Vice President earned as part of his monthly salary while he was at Halliburton but elected not to receive until he left the firm.”