Political Quotes

“over a year ago, the President and Vice President asked Congress to undertake comprehensive reform of how the Government buys goods and services. They know what we know: that in government procurement there is too much paperwork, too little openness, and inadequate fairness for small businesses. Soon after, the President announced his support for provisions that the Government Operations Committee has been attempting to enact into law for years to improve and simplify the process. Last July 28, our committee reported out H.R. 2238 to accomplish this task. Because, unlike previous bills, that legislation on a limited basis mentioned statutes affecting DOD on two pages out of over 60, the Committee on Armed Services had a referral limited for that purpose. The bill has been sitting there since. It is with great disappointment that I learned today, after this long wait, and in the eleventh hour, that the Armed Services Committee will not report out this legislation unless our committee will make a concession to equal number of conferees for the purposes of a conference. This is the case even though, I am sure, that the parliamentarian would not acknowledge their rights to such a demand under the House rules or relevant precedents such as the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984. The American people did not send us here to engage in these petty disputes or to hold hostage major reform legislation to jurisdictional raids.”