Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, this bill, the Federal Acquisition Reform Act of 1995, is an important piece of legislation, which the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. Spence], chairman of the Committee on National Security, and I introduced along with several other members of our committees. The bill which we bring before you today represents the efforts of many of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have joined us in rejecting the status quo and who are prepared to lead the way toward reforming a system which for years has become increasingly more arcane, more convoluted, more difficult to deal with, and therefore, more costly, both to business, who wants to be a participant in bidding for projects with the Federal Government, and certainly for the Government. Members have heard it mentioned here today that the cost to the Federal Government is about a 20 percent premium that we pay for all goods and all services that we purchase. So we are trying to seek fiscal discipline, and this is the surest and best way we can go about reducing Federal spending and moving us toward a balanced budget. Mr. Chairman, this bill sends a message to our employer, the American taxpayer, who frankly has been paying an extraordinary premium for the services that he has been receiving from the Federal Government. The message is that we are serious about changing the way the Government operates.”