Political Quotes

“Recognizing the distinguished Senator from Alaska wants to be brief, I will simply say this is a very important recommendation that the Senator from Arizona has made. It has been carefully studied by the Rules Committee. I, as chairman; Mr. Ford, as ranking member, we have taken a position in opposition--not to the ultimate goals sought by the distinguished Senator from Arizona, but to the time with which such a goal could likely be achieved. Second, we are still studying the issue and we are concerned that this proposal would take the Member out of the sequence of making this information available to the public. As I read the McCain request, it would mandate that the CRS and its Director would send a great deal of material---reports and issue briefs--right into the Internet system. No Member would be interposed between the recipients of that information and the Director of CRS. That concerns this Senator a great deal, because if I am out there and come up on the system and access some of this information, it reads that the Director of the CRS put it out. Who is he? Of course, we all know that the CRS is a part of the Library of Congress. It was created for the purpose of accommodating the important needs of Members of Congress, committees, and their respective staffs. Suddenly, this information takes on the imprimatur that the Director takes this position on an issue, as opposed to a Member sending it out and the recipient contacting the Member.”