Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of H.R. 2395, the Inspector General Empowerment Act. Indeed, the inspectors general play a key role in improving our government's efficiency. They conduct investigations and audits to prevent and detect waste, fraud, and mismanagement in their agencies' programs. The IGs help Congress to shape legislation and to target our oversight and investigative activities. The IGs have proven to be one of Congress' best investments. In the last fiscal year, the IG community used their $2.6 billion budget to identify potential cost savings to the taxpayers, totaling $46.5 billion. That means that for every dollar in the total IG's budget, they identified approximately $18 in savings. In light of this return on investment, we want the IGs to have every access to the records that they need to do their jobs. But that hasn't always been the case, Mr. Speaker. For example, at the Justice Department, the inspector general could not access grand jury documents or national security-related documents without the approval of the Deputy Attorney General or the Federal courts. At the EPA, several offices, including the EPA's Office of Homeland Security, intentionally interfered with the IG's investigations. At the Chemical Safety Board--which the EPA OIG also oversees--the IG was denied access to certain documents based on a phony attorney-client privilege claim.…”