Political Quotes

“I want to thank the gentleman from Oklahoma for yielding, and want to congratulate the gentleman for his persistence in bringing this issue to the floor. For 6 months now this issue has been under discussion. The gentleman from Oklahoma has worked with a number of Members trying to bring this to a successful conclusion in a bipartisan way. Unfortunately, that has not happened. Many of us think that this post office problem is a problem that is a year old, 2 years old. Well, it is not. The problems in the House post office go back to 1979, when a former employee in the post office went to law enforcement officials and admitted there was a cash for stamps scheme underway. At that time it was covered up and it went away. But the Democrat leadership of the House that ran the post office knew about it. Yet the problems persisted in the post office. Again, in the mid-seventies, this problem came up once again, and law enforcement officials began to do an investigation. Nothing came of it. It went away because it was hushed up and covered up again. This problem has been going on long before 20 months. It goes back about 3 years ago when the leadership of this House understood the problems, the serious problems, that were underway in the House post office. Should it surprise any of us that we sit here tonight, not willing to take a look at it, not willing to pursue this? No, it should not.”