The Quote/Unquote Archive

The Quote/Unquote Archive

June 30
"An insubordinate agency is subject to executive branch enforcement of the [executive order] through persuasion and, ultimately, termination of the resisting official."
-The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, ruling that agencies can't be legally forced to bargain with employee unions over "permissive" issues.

June 29
"I realize the grammar Nazis will go nuts over this, but I will deal with them."
-Maj. Gen. William Looney, director of operations at Air Force Space Command in Colorado Springs, in an order to his personnel telling them to begin spelling the word "aerospace" as "AeroSpace" in all correspondence.

June 28
"What's going on here is not really the Secretary. It's all that bureaucracy [at Energy headquarters]. All that bureaucracy is saying to him, 'Hey, Mr. Secretary, defend our turf.'. . . Secretaries become captives of their own organizations."
-Former Sen. Warren Rudman, chair of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, on the Energy Department's response to security problems.

June 25
"This is a debate over the future role of government. There are people who feel that if you can look it up in the phone book and find two or three companies to bid on the work, it should be turned over to private-sector performance."
-Andrew Fortin of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on the Federal Activities Inventory
Reform Act.

June 24
"The very high levels and deep resilience of civic distrust in recent decades do not appear to this panel to be routine or benign."
-From the report of a National Academy of Public Administration panel on rebuilding trust in government.

June 23
"The whole department should report to the Secretary and that should be made very, very clear."
-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, telling Senators he opposes creating a new autonomous nuclear weapons agency within DOE.

June 22
"The current federal executive compensation system clearly is a 'worst practice'-a system in which executive compensation is severely compressed and capped, and one that provides few incentives for performance."
-Ian Littman, co-chair of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Endowment for the Business of Government.

June 21
"New record today in the 100 meter dash. It was set by Al Gore trying to distance himself from President Clinton."
-"Tonight Show" host Jay Leno.

June 17
"I will search out every last dime of waste and bureaucratic excess. I know how to do that."
-Vice President Al Gore in a speech announcing his presidential candidacy.

June 16
"My guiding principle is government if necessary, but not necessarily government."
-Texas governor and presidential candidate George W. Bush.

June 15
"It would appear intuitively obvious that defining performance expectations and measuring results is an effective management tool."
-DOE's Richard H. Hopf in response to a GAO report questioning the effectiveness of the agency's performance-based contracts for its national labs.

June 14
"War, business, business, war-what's the difference? In both, you've got competing belligerents, a state of conflict and competition over resources."
-Clarence Briggs, a former Army commander who now heads Advanced Internet Technologies in Fayetteville, N.C.

June 11
"It took a while to convince career staff somebody cared enough about the place to stay a while."
-David A. Longanecker, outgoing assistant Secretary of Education for postsecondary education, who spent a record six and a half years in the job.

June 10
"You are scared to death of the federal government, and I don't think it is nearly as malevolent as you think."
-Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, to Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, on the latter's proposal to cut back on federal data collection because of privacy concerns.

June 9
"It's not a matter of where, it's a matter of will."
-House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich, when asked what specific items he would cut from the federal budget to shrink the size of government.

June 8
"We must talk about mental illness in our homes, in our workplace, in our communities, with our colleagues, everywhere that we can, because we must uncover those who have it or are suffering with it and encourage them to get the help they need."
-Tipper Gore

June 7
"When you have a lack of management skills and no accountability-like a lack of character-sooner or later, it shows up."
-Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., on the Energy Department. Tiahrt wants to abolish the troubled agency.

June 4
"Apparently, even Santa Claus has hired a Washington lobbyist."
-Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., commenting about a subsidy for reindeer ranches included in the fiscal 1999 supplemental appropriations bill.

June 3
"We look at the trees, we investigate the bark, we look carefully at the roots, but the forest oftentimes goes untouched."
-Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, on congressional oversight of federal agencies.

June 2
"Penuriousness in compensating its top elected official is unbecoming to a great nation."
-From a Newsday editorial on a proposal to increase the President's salary.

May 28
"After four years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood."
-Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., an attorney who had dabbled in film acting before his election to the Senate.

May 27
"I appeal to the better angels of our nature. Every expert inside government and without says we need to close more bases."
-Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

May 26
"If you stockpile anything, stockpile information."
-Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, on how people should prepare for the Y2K problem.

May 25
"The bottom line is that private sector salaries are increasing and government salaries are not."
-Former White House Chief of Staff Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty.

May 24
"Look, you get credit in Washington for legislation. Everybody wants a bill-signing ceremony at the White House. But real change comes when you change the culture of a government agency."
-Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

May 21
"We've got to find a way to either increase the size of our forces or decrease the number of our missions."
-Defense Secretary William Cohen on readiness problems.

May 20
"The Office of Personnel Management is Y2K O.K."
-OPM Director Janice Lachance.

May 19
"What guarantee does the taxpayer have that the Army is going to get the best prices if the in-house workforce is not allowed to be considered as a bidder?"
-Mark Gibson of the American Federation of Government Employees on the Army's effort to get a waiver from OMB Circular A-76 to contract out work at two logistics software centers.

May 18
"If you've got time to spare, go by air."
-An air traffic controllers union official quoted in Newsweek on delays caused by the implementation of new computer systems.

May 17
"I ended up wearing several particles of his saliva."
-FBI scientist William Tobin on heated discussions he had with James Kallstrom of the agency's New York office after Tobin and others concluded that the crash of TWA flight 800 was not caused by a bomb.

May 14
"We're turning our entire government into an ATM machine."
-Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., on the growing percentage of the federal budget consumed by entitlements.

May 13
"I don't think Larry's forte is management."
-A Clinton administration source on the difference between outgoing Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and his designated successor, Lawrence Summers.

May 12
"In the past, no one has dared restructure the department as radically as we are doing today."
-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson on a plan to consolidate all of the agency's security functions in a new high-level office.

May 11
"We disagree entirely with the notion that OMB does not closely scrutinize expenditures."
-OMB spokeswoman Linda Ricci on oversight of agencies' spending on Y2K fixes.

May 10
"It's the wrong time, wrong message. We're fully engaged in a military conflict, which makes it more difficult to do."
-Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, on a proposal for another two rounds of military base closures.

May 7
"It's almost like the INS has forgotten they're people and not packages."
-Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., on an Immigration and Naturalization Service plan to group illegal immigrants by nationality and ship them to "hub" jails in Texas and Chicago.

May 5
"TV doesn't have much to say about government, but most of what it has to say is bad."
-S. Robert Lichter, president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs.

May 4
"Real solutions will never come from a bunch of politicians in Washington who pass three laws and think they have changed the world."
-Nine-term House member and presidential candidate John Kasich, R-Ohio.

May 3
"Believe me, this is not a Christmas tree. We're talking about mission-related facilities."
-House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young. R-Fla., on military construction funds included in a $13 billion emergency spending bill for Kosovo operations.

April 30
"The lure of huge profits generated by drug trafficking is undeniably strong, especially for people of modest means who can earn a year's pay in one afternoon simply by looking the other way."
-INS Commissioner Doris Meissner on what she said was the "ever-present threat" of corruption at her agency.

April 28
"While we're stretched, I think we're OK. But if we don't get this supplemental, we will be broken."
-Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre on military readiness and a proposed supplemental spending bill for the Kosovo operation.

April 27
"The request ... is from the Office of Management and Budget. It is not coming from the Department of Defense."
-House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., arguing that the Clinton administration's supplemental funding request for the Kosovo operation is inadequate.

April 23
"If I'm President, I want one thing to be known: If you want to please the boss, one of the things you'd better show is how in your department or agency you've furthered tolerance and racial understanding."
-Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley.

April 22
"From the position of the federal government, we would acknowledge that there are limits to what we can do. But there certainly should be no limits to what we try to do."
-White House press secretary Joe Lockhart after the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

April 21
"The demise of big government has been greatly exaggerated. I'm actually surprised at how obsolete we aren't."
-Doyle McManus, Washington bureau chief of The Los Angeles Times, on newspapers' Washington bureaus.

April 20
"Even $10 billion would be insufficient to begin fixing six years of Clinton-Gore neglect of our armed forces."
-House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, on President Clinton's request for $6 billion in supplemental spending for the Kosovo operation.

April 19
"It looks like the new and improved IRS that we heard so much about this week is up to its old tricks again."
-Rep. Bill Archer, R-Texas, on reports that IRS managers in Houston had retaliated against a whistleblower.

April 16
"This looks like we're making the trains run on time, but in truth, down the tracks a train wreck awaits."
-Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., on the House's near-party-line approval of a $1.74 trillion fiscal 2000 budget resolution.

April 15
"I cannot think of anything more distressing than to have the federal government not be [Y2K-]compliant and the reason be that we ran out of money."
-Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate's Y2K committee.

April 14
"The military needs some time to conduct this war. I don't want this thing run by a bunch of politicians."
-Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., on congressional critics of NATO military action in Yugoslavia.

April 13
"Warnings were ignored, minimized and occasionally even ridiculed."
-Notra Trulock III, DOE's former chief of intelligence, on efforts to improve security at the department's national laboratories.

April 12
"Happy New Year! It worked!"
-FAA Administrator Jane Garvey after a successful end-to-end test of the readiness of air-traffic control systems for the year 2000.

April 9
"Ultimately, I consider it my job to improve my little 300-person piece of society."
-D. Michael Abrashoff, former commander of the USS Benfold, on his approach to dealing with members of his crew. April 8
"They said, 'We didn't know the federal government was doing such innovative and interesting things.' "
-Tina Sung of the Federal Quality Consulting Group on the reaction of business leaders when the group won an award for business innovation.

April 7
"If you asked some career executives about it, I'm sure they would say there are some far-sighted folks who are working on burrowing in now."
-Senior Executives Association President Carol Bonosaro.

April 6
"Someone at the State Department loves you."
-Message on a T-shirt given by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to John Holum, director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, as ACDA was merged into the State Department.

April 5
"The problem isn't that they failed to say 'good morning' to the commanding general; the problem is that they failed to acknowledge a fellow human being."
-Marine Brig. Gen. C. L. Stanley, on Marines' failure to acknowledge him when he says good morning at the gym.

April 2
"The most stubborn bureaucracy in America is Congress itself."
-Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., on the failure of many congressional offices to implement recycling plans.

March 31
"First you are painted into a corner. Then you are hung out to dry. And finally, you are framed."
-Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher on having his portrait hung at State Department headquarters.

March 30
"According to a new study, many of the federal buildings down in Washington are crumbling-and the bad news would be what?"
-Late-night talk show host David Letterman.

March 29
"Yes, Lockheed is going to pay us $15 million."
-Army spokesman Bob Hunt on the consequences for prime contractor Lockheed Martin of a sixth failed test of the Theater High-Altitude Area Defense missile. The company is financially liable for failures of the missile.

March 26
"It is appalling that the labs were conducted almost like educational institutions. The absence of basic security is just wrong."
-Sen. John Warner, R-Va., on allegations of security lapses at the Energy Department's national labs.

March 25
"He obviously has higher ambitions. I think he looks at me as a threat, as a problem."
-HUD Inspector General Susan Gaffney on HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo.

March 24
"The day I made that comment, I was tired from staying up all night inventing the camcorder."
-Vice President Al Gore, on why he told CNN he "invented the Internet."

March 23
"To those who are afraid, let us assure them: There is no need to hoard. There is no need to take money out of banks. There is no need to head for the hills."
-Mike Walker, deputy director of FEMA, on the Y2K problem.

March 22
"Twenty-first century combat is the war of the databases, in which information flows must go from the foxhole to the White House and back down again."
-Kenneth Allard, a Center for Strategic and International Studies military analyst.

March 19
"With this problem, if you're 10 percent non-compliant, you're non-compliant."
-Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, on the year 2000 problem.

March 18
"It's silly to tell federal workers that you have to take more risks, you have to stick your neck out. It's like teaching a pig to sing."
-Outgoing National Partnership for Reinventing Government "Energizer-in-Chief" Bob Stone.

March 17
"Remember, even if the competition goes to the contractor, you, as an American taxpayer, win."
-Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Charles "Rob" Nelson to federal employees on the A-76 outsourcing process.

March 16
"The problems and risks to the economy will not come from federal computers."
-Federal Y2K czar John Koskinen on the impact of the millennium bug.

March 15
"It's always easier to create a program than it is to defend one."
-A Senate aide on why Congress tends to fall behind on reauthorizing federal programs.

March 12
"The VA has a history of turning a blind eye toward mismanagement and misconduct by its senior officials while punishing anyone who dares to speak up."
-Rep. Terry Everett, R-Ala.

March 11
"We've cut just about all we can cut, so it only gets tougher and tougher."
-Rep. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., on the prospect of finding offset budget cuts to fund defense spending increases next year.

March 10
"I've been assigned to an agency whose name escapes me at the moment."
-Infamous Monica Lewinsky taper and former Pentagon employee Linda Tripp on her transfer to the Defense Manpower Data Center.

March 9
"It's only because the House Republicans shut down the government that we got a balanced budget. We suffered some short-term damage. Over the long haul, it was the single most important thing that we did."
-Former Rep. Robert S. Walker, R-Pa.

March 8
"Most of our men and women in uniform would like it if we invested more in them, in their families, in their quality of life, but they wouldn't like it if, in so doing, we made it impossible for them to fulfill the mission they joined the military to perform in the first place."
-President Clinton, on why a higher military pay raise may not be possible.

March 5
"I see that one particular employee, who has been paid over $90,000 a year for the last two years to do nothing [has been transferred to] some makeshift job . . . that gives a black eye to the credibility of the whole federal workforce."
-Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., on the Defense Department's decision to give Linda Tripp a position as a public affairs specialist at the Defense Manpower Data Center in Arlington, Va.

March 4
"To my friends on the left, government left unwatched can lead to injustice. To my friends on the right, government is not inherently evil."
-Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., in his farewell address to Congress.

March 3
"It's like going to a party, and you risk your pants falling down. You not only want to wear a belt, but suspenders as well."
-GAO's Jack L. Brock on the need for the Defense Department to take extra precautions to deal with the Y2K problem.

March 2
"Our forces excel in every mission. ... However, the side of the Defense Department whose mission is to support the men and women in uniform has not reduced, restructured, or pursued innovations to the same extent."
-Defense Secretary William Cohen on the Defense Reform Initiative.

March 1
"It became apparent to the senior leadership that anyone scouring the Web can come up with very sensitive information."
-A DoD spokesman on why the Pentagon has launched an effort to police its Web sites.

February 26
"I'm for it. Everybody's for it. Whether we can live with it is the question."
-Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., on whether Congress will retain the current cap on federal spending in its fiscal 2000 budget resolution.

February 25
"[This bill] comes at a time when we're asking more and more of our military with less and less. It would be insanity for us not to do this bill, and do it now."
-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott on a measure passed Wednesday to increase military pay and improve benefits.

February 24
"When the dust gets settled, we'll find out that I was more right than he was."
-White House Y2K czar John Koskinen on his predictions about federal efforts to deal with the bug, as opposed to the more dire warnings of Rep. Steve Horn, R-Calif.

February 23
"Even if this bill is expensive, the alternative is unacceptable."
-Sen. John Warner, R-Va., on concerns about the cost of a proposed 4.8 percent pay increase next year for military service members.

February 22
"We spend a lot of time in the department worrying about strategies and processes, and sometimes we lose sight of the fact that success really depends a lot more on execution."
-Defense Department program manager Terry Little on innovative procurement efforts.

February 19
"We represent the two preeminent pillars of American prestige and talent."
-Defense Secretary William Cohen to workers at Microsoft's headquarters.

February 18
"At this time they are intensely concerned about the nature of the problem the nation faces, and see themselves at the forefront of protecting fellow citizens from a major disaster. They may feel like the child with a finger in the dike, while co-workers stroll by and ask, 'What are you so worried about?' "
-From an Office of Personnel Management guide on managing Y2K specialists.

February 17
"I was on an airplane, I guess about five years ago, and a stewardess came by, and she said, 'Dr. Shalala?' And I said, 'Yes?' And she said, 'Will you come to the back of the plane?' There was a woman in the back of the plane who was obviously having a baby."
-HHS Secretary Donna Shalala, who has a doctorate in political science, but no medical degree.

February 12
"I am a political appointee. I was completely afraid of my livelihood being in jeopardy."
-Linda Tripp, alleging that President Clinton indirectly threatened her career and her life.

February 11
"Reward systems should be targeted on these incredibly wasteful high-risk problems and generously reward individuals who turn them around."
-House Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind.

February 10
"We don't pretend we have solved this problem. $12.6 billion is still too much money. But what we're saying is we have turned the corner."
-HHS Inspector General June Gibbs Brown on efforts that cut Medicare overpayments from $20.3 billion in 1997 to $12.6 billion last year.

February 9
"I am extremely pleased to report that the federal workforce is not a sanctuary for the chronically bad employee."
-OPM Director Janice Lachance

February 8
"The federal government has great potential to make problems worse instead of making them better-and it usually costs a lot of money in the process."
-House Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind.

February 5
"The M bit [of OMB] hasn't worked since Nixon. If it did work, we wouldn't be here today."
-Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Calif., at a hearing on a proposal to separate the Office of Management and Budget into two separate offices.

February 4
"See what happens when you let men in the Cabinet?"
-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to HHS Secretary Donna Shalala prior to a Cabinet meeting this week. Albright and Shalala were discussing the situation in Kosovo, while HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman talked about Glickman's new pair of shoes.

February 3
"It's a little more than the GNP of Australia--and probably a little less than the Denver Broncos will have to spend if they want to keep John Elway next year."
-HHS Secretary Donna Shalala on her department's proposed fiscal 2000 budget.

February 2
"In all my years in Congress, I've never seen such a kitchen-sink approach to government."
-House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer, R-Texas, on President Clinton's proposed fiscal 2000 budget.

February 1
"Despite a half century of unrelenting reform, and in part because of it, the federal government is in danger of becoming a monument to managerial mediocrity."
-Paul Light, in the February issue of Government Executive.

January 29
"What is a fair salary for someone who is on call 24 hours a day, who's prepared to lead troops into deadly combat, who is rigorously trained in highly lethal, cutting-edge technology, who is constantly relocated and restricted in lifestyle, who is called upon to manage complex political and ethnic divisions with the skills of a diplomat and warrior?"
-Defense Secretary William Cohen.

January 27
"We need to look to the future and begin building the kind of systems that fix the underlying problems and not just continue to do patchwork."
-Treasury Department official Richard Gregg, on how to improve federal financial management.

January 26
"There's no room in the 21st century for a federal government with 19th century efficiency and management."
-House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas.

January 25
"If I could go back in history and change one thing, I would probably give President Clinton two years of military service, so that he would not be so easily intimidated by military opposition to his policies."
-Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.

January 22
"We constantly find ourselves barraged by high-profile issues involving ideological and policy differences. It is all too easy to overlook everyday, nuts-and-bolts government performance problems that attract little public attention."
-House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, and House Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ill., in a letter to their colleagues.

January 21
"Progress doesn't win medals. To get the medal you have to finish on time."
-Comptroller General David Walker on agencies' progress in solving the Y2K problem.

January 20
"Once again, our government is a progressive instrument of the common good, rooted in our oldest values: opportunity, responsibility, community; devoted to fiscal responsibility, determined to give our people the tools they need to make the most of their own lives: A 21st century government for 21st century America."
-President Clinton in his State of the Union address.

January 19
"We are not here to defend William Clinton, the man. ... We are here to defend William Clinton, the President of the United States."
-White House counsel Charles Ruff in his opening statement at President Clinton's impeachment trial.

January 18
"It's tough not to snore."
-Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., on sitting through the impeachment trial of President Clinton in the Senate.

January 15
"Our civil service reform will be based on an insight that is common in private industry: You pay for performance."
-Vice President Gore

January 14
"She's a tough chick, cruising around the world as a force for good, presumably. She's a no-holds-barred kind of woman. I'd hate to meet her in a dark alley."
-Lucy Lawless, TV's "Xena, Warrior Princess," on Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

January 12
"There's no such thing as one poor performer. That individual has a supervisor. If he or she is staying on the rolls, then we have two poor performers."
-Bobby Harnage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees.

January 11
"Campaigning-the urge to divide and conquer rather than compromise and move on-has replaced governing in America and has led to the current disconnect between events in Washington and life in the rest of the country."
-Taegan D. Goddard and Chris Riback, authors of You Won-Now What?, in an op-ed in USA Today.

January 8
"FAA's regional fiefdoms are inhibiting productivity."
-House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bud Shuster, R-Pa., discussing his proposal to make the Federal Aviation Administration an independent agency.

January 7
"The era of big deficits is over."
-President Clinton on OMB projections of a second consecutive federal budget surplus this year.

January 6
"Are we to expect that a President, who with a stiff upper lip and a straight face, can debate the meaning of 'is'-[a] two-letter word-could not dance forever on a seven-letter word like 'censure'?"
-Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., expressing opposition to a censure of President Clinton instead of a full impeachment trial in the Senate.

January 5
"It doesn't make sense to add billions for gold-plated weapons systems when nobody can keep up with us anyway. That's Cold War thinking."
-Michael O'Hanlon, a defense expert at the Brookings Institution.

January 4
"There are two models government tends to follow. One is to push people to do something, the other is to pull them in. Pulling them in is a much better way to go about it."
-Assistant Treasury Secretary Don Hammond.