Political Quotes

“Senator Levin and I are currently conducting a hearing of the Armed Services Committee. Both of us believed it was imperative to come to the Chamber and express to the Senate our strong objection to the amendment offered by our distinguished colleague, Senator Coburn. I give this by way of background. The Committee on Armed Services for some time has been, frankly, encouraging the Department to take steps to try to put in place a system that would revise the older means by which travel was accommodated for members of the Department and others. It is a very extensive number of individuals who are affected. The Department did put in place a program, albeit rather slowly. Nevertheless, it is now in place. Congress, through the years, has criticized the Department for not providing better business practices, specifically for the inadequate oversight of their travel programs. Criticism centered around a growing number of separate, nonintegrated travel systems which did not provide the information required for DOD or congressional oversight. Therefore, the Defense Travel System was created by the DOD to address these criticisms and the desperate need to make this system work more cost- effectively. Comparing the Defense Travel System to the legacy systems is inappropriate because the Defense Travel System performs different functions. The legacy systems are travel reservation systems.…”