William M. ``Mac'' Thornberry: “I share the respect that all Members of this House have for the dean of the House, and I always appreciate his…”

“I share the respect that all Members of this House have for the dean of the House, and I always appreciate his willingness to stand up for what he believes in, as we recently saw when he led efforts to oppose gun control despite the sentiments of most of his party. As much as anyone in this body, the gentleman from Michigan is responsible over the years for the management structure of the Department of Energy, and he does not want to see that changed, and I think we can all understand someone coming from that position. But study after study, report after report, have reached a different conclusion. As a matter of fact, I know of at least 20 studies, reports and in-house reviews in the Department of Energy that have all found that the Department of Energy management structure is a mess and hurts our security, safety, and national security. I point to the President's own study which came out just this summer conducted by his foreign intelligence advisory board, and they concluded, quote, DOE's performance throughout its history should be regarded as intolerable, and they also found, quote, the Department of Energy is a dysfunctional bureaucracy that has proven incapable of reforming itself, end quote.”