Quote/Unquote

Quote/Unquote

March 28
"This hearing will put the VA on notice that the subcommittee is going to be monitoring its senior executives. Veterans expect the department's leaders to set the example, and the disgraceful behavior which is alleged to have occurred in some of these cases falls far short."
--Rep. Terry Everett, R-Ala., House Veterans Affairs subcommittee on oversight and investigations, announcing that a hearing will be held next month on charges of sexual harassment at VA.

March 27
"To put a bill like this out indicates that our government is clueless on what to do about security on the Internet."
--Jerry Berman, executive director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, on an administration proposal to give law enforcement agencies access to encrypted data transmissions.

March 26
"Only with a major crash, only with people dead and sobbing survivors filling television screens, does the FAA step up to the plate and make changes."
--Former Transportation Department inspector general Mary Schiavo in her new book, Flying Blind, Flying Safe.

March 25
"We believe strongly that these decisions are ill-advised and will increase the risk of unnecessary deaths, injuries and damage."
--From a memo by four senior National Weather Service officials about budget cuts at the agency.

March 24
"We're returning to a more traditional American view of government. They don't hate government and they don't love government."
--Republican pollster Robert Teeter, on the results of a new survey about Americans' attitudes toward government.

March 21
"Unless the President is willing to do more than his budget now envisions in mandatory programs, not only would he not be able to fund his new initiatives, there would be significant reductions in programs such as education, environment, crime fighting, transportation, housing and others . . . "
--Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M.

March 20
"I want the government to stand up and say, 'Yes, we made a mistake.' I'm more angry at the government than I am at Timothy McVeigh."
--Edye Smith, one of a group of family members of victims of the Oklahoma City bombing who announced yesterday that they plan to file a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the government for failing to issue a warning against a terrorist attack.

March 19
"The cycle of political destruction must end. And I hope we will let it end today."
--President Clinton on the prospect of renewed budget talks with GOP leaders.

March 18
"It is nasty and brutish without being short."
--Former National Security Advisor Anthony Lake on the political appointee confirmation process.

March 17
"The President blew his knee out. Big deal."
--White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry, on the flurry of media interest in President Clinton's recent injury.

March 14
"We are off to a poor start."
--House Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Livingston, R-La., on budget negotiations with the White House.

March 13
"With 2,500 people going to work every day, why can't you fix this yesterday?"
--House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio, to Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Katherine Abraham on her agency's efforts to analayze the accuracy of the Consumer Price Index.

March 12
"In Washington and throughout the world, the headquarters structure created to run the Cold War has not been reduced commensurate with with the drastic reduction of our armed forces overall."
--William V. Kennedy, a former analyst at the Army War College Strategic Studies Institute.

March 11
"He's laid down some very exacting standards about how he'd like us to respond, which around this procrastinating bureaucracy isn't such a bad thing."
--A senior Pentagon official, quoted in the Washington Post about new Secretary of Defense William Cohen.

March 10
" 'Scum' was used almost exclusively to describe people . . . The most common references for scum were people in the drug trade, communists and people who burn flags."
--From a study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center on the vulgarity of members of Congress, prepared for a congressional retreat last weekend on civility.

March 7
"What's the difference between Jurassic Park and the U.S. Army? One is an amusement park dominated by dinosaurs, the other is a movie."
--Joke circulating among Army officers critical of the service's planning, according to the Wall Street Journal.

March 6
"Mr. Gore has dishonored the office of Vice President. The honorable course of action is for him to resign."
--Kenneth T. Lyons, president of the National Association of Government Employees, on reports that Vice President Gore solicited campaign funds from the White House.

March 5
"Agencies under your command have been guilty of gross violations of the public trust."
--House Appropriations subcommittee chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., scolding Attorney General Janet Reno over recent controversies at the FBI and INS.

March 4
"I have never asked a federal employee for a contribution. Never would, never will."
--Vice President Gore, at a White House news conference

March 3
"I've sponsored legislation that would give -- yes, give -- the Postal Service to its 750,000 employees, making it one of the largest employee-owned corporations in the world."
--Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.

The Quote/Unquote Archive