Political Quotes

“I thank the subcommittee chairman for his indulgence at this late hour. Mr. Chairman, this is an issue that has been under investigation by the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on the Energy and Commerce Committee for over the last 6 years. In 2006, without consultation from the Energy and Commerce Committee, there was included a provision in the annual Interior, EPA appropriations bill that allowed the Environmental Protection Agency to begin using a special pay program that was explicitly and exclusively authorized for use by the Public Health Service administration under the Department of Health and Human Services. This special pay mechanism allows a government employee to leave the normal GS pay scale and receive nearly uncapped compensation, upwards of $200,000 to $300,000 per year. This special provision was intended to be used only in unique circumstances where, perhaps, leaders of the healthcare industry would not be able to work for the Federal Government because of pay considerations if they did not have access to these higher salaries. This justification cannot be used for anyone at the Environmental Protection Agency. Indeed, some of the employees that the Environmental Protection Agency pays under title 42, the part of the U.S. Code that allows for this special pay, were previous government workers and were merely moved to this special pay scale because they wanted additional money.…”