Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, facts are a stubborn thing, and what we are hearing today are a number of assertions that truly are not the facts. Let me read from the bill, because the opposing arguments would be that we can fire them for any particular reason, but that's not what the bill says. The bill says we may remove an employee for serious neglect of duty, misappropriation of funds--which, I might add, was the case in point that we were just talking about--or malfeasance. And the head of the agency has to know that it was knowingly done. This gives just another tool in the toolbox. It doesn't do away with due process. It doesn't do away with a number of the facts that we already have today, but it adds another tool. What it really does is allow our managers to manage. What a novel concept. We're going to actually allow and trust Federal employees to manage the people under them. We have been in hearing after hearing that says, Well, why didn't you do something about it? Why did you not address this? And they said, Well, our hands are tied. We didn't have the tools to do it. This bill, as Mr. Kelly has so eloquently put it, gives them the tool to do exactly that. It doesn't do away with due process. We've accepted amendments, three different amendments that protect the rights of employees--they are embedded in this bill--and yet we still find that my colleagues opposite want to say that they're not in support of this.…”