Political Quotes

“the moratorium on A-76 public- private competition at the Department of Labor is the right provision, in the right bill at the right time. The moratorium is included in this Appropriations bill because the Department of Labor has made indications that the agency is trying to reach numerical privatization targets--quotas--for its outsourcing. The use of outsourcing quotas was first addressed by Congress when the Office of Management and Budget under the Bush Administration introduced its effort to outsource at least 15 percent of each agency to the private sector, with a goal of outsourcing up to half of the agency workforce. The problem with outsourcing quotas is that they are a ``one-size- fits-all'' arbitrary privatization effort. Quotas never consider the unique needs of different Federal agencies, and they often lead to widespread cuts that harm the ability of Federal agencies to effectively carry out their mission. I offered an amendment to the Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Act in 2003 that shed light onto the administration's effort, and outlawed the outsourcing quota. Now it appears that the Department of Labor is taking the same approach. In the next two years, over 2,000 jobs are expected to be competed, many of which appear to be both inherently governmental and even discriminatory.”