Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise to speak on behalf of my amendment, co-authored by Representative Harley Rouda of California, which seeks to bring badly-needed transparency to sources of compensation for certain individuals staffing the legislative branch. I would like to start by thanking my colleague from California (Mr. Rouda) for working together in this bipartisan fashion. I am always willing to work across the aisle to find common ground, and I am glad to have found a partner in him on this issue. I would be remiss, however, if I did not mention the missed opportunity for doing so on the underlying bill. This underlying legislation ran afoul of the legislative process, having gone through only one markup, despite 10 committee referrals. Democratic leaders also rejected many Republican amendments that I support, amendments that would have terminated Congressional pensions, prohibiting pay for Congressmen when the government shuts down, and other commonsense reforms. If we are serious about strengthening our democracy, we need to start with reforming our own Congress. Luckily, Representative Rouda and I are doing just that through our amendment. Our amendment codifies a Senate rule that requires legislative branch offices to disclose the source of funding for Congressional fellows.…”