Political Quotes

“I want him to know that I think I would speak for the chair, as well as myself, when I say it was heartbreaking not to have more money for this bill because of the way in which communities came forward and wanted to be included. But we thought that pretty soon you are going to have every community from a rural area in the United States included in this bill, and for good reason. What made it heartbreaking, of course, is that we are not just talking about another bill that will throw some money out here for communities, even hard-pressed communities. What was really so rewarding was to hear experts who had looked at the program testify as to its benefits and its efficiency. There came a time in the hearings when I wondered if I was hearing a discussion of a Federal program when its efficiencies were being touted the way they were. What the chairman and I did was to work on making these efficiencies even more widespread with new ways to not only measure performance but to reward performance.”