Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I thank Chairman Jose Serrano, the distinguished gentleman from the Bronx, for his tremendous leadership here in the Congress and in connection with this bill. There is a growing culture of corruption that is festering within the Department of Commerce that should trouble Americans regardless of political affiliation. It is absolutely essential that we continue to support the oversight that is independent and those who have the responsibility to police bad actors and explore waste, fraud, and abuse. This amendment will increase support for the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Commerce. This office serves an incredibly vital function. It provides independent and objective oversight for an agency that is led by Secretary Wilbur Louis Ross, Jr., someone who has from time to time found himself in hot water with ethics experts here in this town. Meeting even the minimum ethical standards the government sets for its executive branch officials seems to be a significant challenge for our Secretary. Last February, the Office of Government Ethics, which is run by a Trump appointee, declined to certify Ross' 2018 financial disclosure report `` . . . because that report was not accurate and he was not in compliance with his ethics agreement at the time of the report.'' These kinds of disclosures are, of course, important. They allow the U.S. government's ethics watchdogs, regardless of political affiliation, to identify potential conflicts of interest.…”