Political Quotes

“I have a couple of matters I want to discuss. Today, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science is holding its annual hearing on the President's budget request, with the Department of Commerce, with representatives from the Department. The representative from the Department that is invited, in my experience, has always been the Secretary--in this case, Wilbur Ross. This year, for as long as I can remember, with no public explanation, Secretary Ross declined the Subcommittee's invitation. The Department of Commerce has a budget request for over $12.2 billion but couldn't send over its Secretary to defend it. It is extraordinary that the Secretary provided no justification to the Republican chairman of the committee for his actions. It is extraordinary to me that this Secretary believes he should be treated differently from other Secretaries. He believes he may not be held accountable before the American people. Secretary Ross's absence is especially concerning to me, given the last time he appeared before the subcommittee. He blatantly, objectively, irrefutably misled me about a critical issue facing the Commerce Department. Perhaps he knew he would be asked about what he said last time and would be asked to tell us what is the truth. A year ago, I asked Secretary Ross why he had marketed the proposed addition of a controversial citizenship question to the census as being necessary to enforce the Voting Rights Act.…”