Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding me this time. I rise in support of this bill to make some very needed and commonsense reforms in the defense acquisition program. I want to say that I support the last amendment that just passed to help relieve the problem that I have been concerned about for a long time, the revolving door at the Pentagon, and I support this amendment which hopefully will help, and I think is intended, at least in part, to make it easier for small businesses to get involved in the Defense Department contracting process. Far too many defense contracts in recent years have been sweetheart insider deals that have gone primarily to very large businesses, very large, well-connected businesses. USA Today reported on its front page on December 29 that the Durango Group has 59 former high ranking military officers advising clients on how to get defense contracts while many are also being paid by the Defense Department to give it advice. And they are drawing huge pensions, with some getting 15,000 a month or more plus free health care. Some of these people connected with this Durango Group even serve as corporate directors or paid advisers to the defense contractors in addition to their pay from Durango.…”