Political Quotes

“I wanted to be afforded this opportunity to address the Senate. I recognize I may be all that is standing in front of the Presiding Officer and the folks who do such a good job of maintaining order in the Senate and adjournment so I will try to make my remarks relatively brief--relatively. I rise again today to honor another great Federal employee, Michael Smith. As the Director of the Strategic Source Program Office within the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, Mr. Smith has saved U.S. taxpayers an estimated $750 million over a 3-year period by merging the buying power of 22 different components within DHS. Mr. Smith recognizes--which I also recognized as Governor and I know the Presiding Officer did when he was the Governor of the great State of West Virginia--that centralized procurement operations is a critical step to creating efficiencies and savings in government. As Governor I fostered development of the State centralized procurement system, eVA, and mandated that all of the State's entities use that system for purchases. For example, we were able to reduce what we paid for lightbulbs in Virginia from 38 cents to 23 cents each. That didn't close a $6 billion shortfall by itself, but we buy a lot of lightbulbs in Virginia, and I know they do in West Virginia as well. Mr. Smith has taken a similar approach at the Federal level, and his accomplishment was no small feat.…”