Political Quotes

“This is duplicative of current rules. Political appointees are government employees who are held to specific travel and ethics standards already. Restrictions are there and have been there, but the Democrats seem to want more bureaucrats involved in the review. Political appointees follow these fundamentals, among others, related to Federal travel: travel must be conducted in the most efficient and effective manner and only when necessary to accomplish the purposes of the government, and employees traveling on official business are expected to exercise the same care when incurring expenses as a prudent person would on personal business. Current Federal travel guidelines for political appointees already limit travel flight expenses to common carrier commercial fares. The only time private company aircraft can be accepted is if no other travel arrangements are practically available or when they are offered to your spouse, but explicitly not because of the political appointee's position. Either way, all of this would be required to be run through the White House Counsel's office. Mr. Chairman, I urge that we oppose the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.”