Frank Lautenberg: “I support Senator Boxer's amendment regarding the questionable--and it is questionable; friends here know I spent a lot…”

“I support Senator Boxer's amendment regarding the questionable--and it is questionable; friends here know I spent a lot of my time, most of my life, in business, more than I have in the Senate. No-bid contracts are practically nonexistent when they have significant value to either the company, the government, or otherwise. The contract given to Halliburton in early March regarding Iraq's oil infrastructure, this no-bid contract, has raised serious concern. There is good cause. There is no accusation here. It is just a question of what is a good, sensible business practice. I ask every Senator in this body to take a look and ask if they would give out a contract to cut the lawn at their house or cut down trees or paint the house without getting some formal response as to what it might cost. We have a strange happening: no-bid contract. It could be as much as $7 billion, with no ceiling on it. That is the interesting aspect. For whatever reason, the administration has attempted to conceal the scope and the terms of the contract. This attempt to hide information has generated plenty of suspicion.”