Political Quotes

“Maybe I don't completely understand the amendment, and it pains me to oppose the amendment from my good friend, but this is basically, from the way that we read it, a notification requirement exists so that the Congress can track significant changes in an Agency's activities over the course of the entire fiscal year. There isn't any reason to believe, unless I misunderstand this--and if I do, I apologize--removing the requirement would result in the administration choosing to contract out government function with any greater frequency or scope. It does, though, guarantee that they will execute any existing plan without any congressional oversight. So, really, regardless of how you feel about the merits of contracting out, we should be able to agree that it's in the best institutional interest for the Congress to know. Basically, it would be like, and I may be wrong, we are giving this authority. We are saying, Eric Holder, you take this and you can do whatever you want to do and do not tell us. And believe me, he would take this and he would not tell us. I write Eric Holder seven letters, and I get back one letter thanking me and he quotes each and every date and never answers the question. Basically, I think you have to have the requirement of a 15-day notification to allow the committee to sort of look at it and see what they were doing.…”