Political Quotes

“very briefly, no one would argue there are activities which are inherently governmental and should be performed by the Government. However, the Government should not engage in activities which are already offered in the private sector. I am here today to share my opposition to the Mikulski amendment. If agreed to, this amendment would roll back a completed public-private job competition at Walter Reed Army Hospital. This job competition was won fair and square by the private sector because it proved to be more efficient and will save the taxpayers $32 million over the next 5 years. Furthermore, it was subject to intense review and investigation by the Army and the GAO, all upholding the Army decision to move forward to award to the private sector. Opponents are not happy with the outcome. They appealed and lost; they appealed again and lost. Now they have appealed the contract award to Congress by offering this amendment. Congress is not in the business of awarding contracts. This amendment is bad policy and bad precedent. Competitive sourcing is not about outsourcing or offshoring. It is about competition. It is the useful tool that utilizes competition to allow Federal agencies to evaluate whether certain functions shall be performed in the future by Federal employees of the private sector. We ought to continue to evaluate programs and activities and whether the Federal Government should be doing these kinds of things.…”