Quote/Unquote
July 30"This Congress should never be ashamed to stand up to the Pentagon and say they are wrong."
July 29
"Called you names like 'honey,' 'hunk,' 'mama,' or 'stud' after being told to stop."
--Question on a recent Department of Veteran's Affairs sexual harassment survey. Nine percent of women and four percent of men said they had experienced such actions.
July 28
"We argue that we want to make the government more like business, and when we do somebody screams."
--Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., on protests by a coalition of business groups about opening the GSA Schedule to state and local governments.
July 25
"Just because he isn't promoting the Clinton administration's political agenda regarding nudity, he is being forced out of his job."
--Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., on the transfer of Canaveral National Seashore Superintendent Wendell Simpson in the midst of a controversy over nude sunbathing along the seashore.
July 24
"If we were to extend the logic of the argument of those who favor the ban, we would prohibit federal employees from obtaining abortions using their own paychecks. After all, those funds also come from the taxpayers."
--Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., on the Senate's vote Tuesday to continue prohibiting coverage for abortions under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
July 23
"The committee is concerned about statements by the executive branch over the years that may have left federal workers with the understanding that their constitutional right to petition Congress does not apply when classified information is involved."
--Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
July 21
"That's the problem with a $40,000-a-year person. They're not smart. In fact, they're kind of dumb. But they've got the power of the federal government behind them."
--Former health care executive Jack Mills on the federal auditors whose investigation led to his conviction for Medicare fraud.
July 18
"This is not a raise. It's a cost-of-living increase. If we deny ourselves a COLA, are we saying we don't deserve the minimum that every other federal employee receives?"
--An aide to Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., on the 2.8 percent salary increase Congress is scheduled to receive this year but that the Senate rejected Thursday.
July 17
"Right now, we're holding things together with string and baling wire."
--Acting National Park Service director Denis Galvin on the agency's budget problems.
July 16
"If they don't shut government down, I'll have commuters on the George Washington Parkway, Route 1, Route 66, and it will give me a real ozone problem."
--Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Becky Norton Dunlop, calling on the White House to shut down the federal government after the third consecutive day of high ozone levels.
July 15
"If a girl can do it -- say, be a fighter pilot -- then it ceases to be a rite of passage."
--Retired Air Force Col. Sam Gardiner, quoted in The Wall Street Journal about the difficulty of recruiting young men into military service.
July 14
"We need organizations with the imagination to innovate, the professionalism to perform and the openess to collaborate."
--Management expert Dr. Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the future of the quality management movement.
July 11
"So no raise money, no get bonus?"
--Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., questioning a witness Thursday about a reward that Democratic fund-raiser John Huang was to receive for bringing in money from Asian-Americans. A Democratic National Committee spokesperson called the remark "completely racist."
July 10
"Don't take yourself so goddamn seriously."
--Boston Philharmonic Conductor Benjamin Zander's advice to a group of federal managers and executives.
July 9
"No defense contractor executive should be paid more by taxpayers than the commander in chief."
--From a "Dear Colleague" letter sent by Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, last week.
July 8
"If we are serious about dealing with the problems of race in America, then the government must look in its own backyard--the federal workforce."
--Rep. Albert Wynn, D-Md., at a press conference Monday.
July 7
"I cannot recall a period in which government has been more irrelevant."
--USA Today columnist Walter Shapiro.
July 3
"Despite all the pious proclamations of a new frugality in government, members of Congress continue to boost spending for their own self-aggrandizement."
--USA Today on pork-barrel projects included in the Defense Department spending bill.
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