Political Quotes

“I want to rise and voice my disappointment. This is a very commonsense piece of legislation that has strong bipartisan support. Senator Grassley has worked tirelessly on this and certainly our committee has as well. We cannot get a simple, commonsense bipartisan piece of legislation passed by the Senate--and then the insult of not even hearing what the objection is. What is the objection to giving the inspectors general the tools they need to provide the accountability and the transparency to safeguard American taxpayer money? I cited my example of the Potomac Healthcare system, the Potomac VA health care system, where because an inspector general was not transparent because the VA inspector general held 140 reports on inspections and investigations, the family of Thomas Baer did not realize there were problems. They took their father to that health care facility and their father died of a stroke because of neglect. That is how important this is. Yet we cannot even hear the reason behind the objection as to why they would not allow this very commonsense piece of legislation to pass. This is very disappointing. With that, I yield the floor.”