Oversight Quotations

I am a Marine Corps veteran, but more importantly - or as important maybe - I'm the chairman of the Oversight Investigation Subcommittee and the House Veterans Affair Committee.

It is only when there is the supervision and critical oversight from the people that the government will be in a position to do an even better job, and employees of government departments will be the true public servants of the people.

Party and ideology routinely trump institutional interests and responsibilities. Regular order - the set of rules, norms and traditions designed to ensure a fair and transparent process - was the first casualty. The results: No serious deliberation. No meaningful oversight of the executive. A culture of corruption.

We are very much engaged across the government, very much engaged in streamlining and simplifying our activities with borrowers and lenders, because that saves time and saves costs and we believe we can do that while maintaining the same or increased levels of oversight and risk management.

What I want veterans to know is that VA is here to care for them. VA is a good system - health care wise, safety wise - highly comparable to any other system out there. Our oversight reviews tell us that. I'm very comfortable in the quality of our system.

We must use all the tools of American power in resolving disputes, including diplomacy. And we must have sufficient congressional debate and oversight before ever putting another U.S. solider in harm's way.

When conducted with proper preparation, and in a focused and professional manner, oversight of executive branch actions can reveal serious shortcomings by government officials and help prevent recurrence; the 'Waco hearings,' conducted over a two-week period in 1995, stand as an example of such an undertaking.

If the City Council wants to hold the police accountable, it has the subpoena power and oversight responsibility to do so. They don't have the courage to do it.

The office has oversight of people who do analysis and oversight of people who do operations, but it is not charged with doing either. That is an important point to make. Those functions are performed by the CIA, DIA and other agencies.

It is high time for some congressional oversight backbone.

As a member of Congress, I believe Congress must provide oversight of actions by the Executive Branch as our system of checks and balances requires.

A lack of government oversight hasn't hindered the Internet. Quite the opposite. A hands-off approach is largely responsible for its fantastic growth and success.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar turned out to be all hat and no cattle with his sorry oversight of the Minerals Management Service.

The NSA should keep close watch on suspected terrorists to keep our country safe - through programs permitting due process, the naming of a suspect, and oversight by an accountable court.

One of the focuses of the investigation will be the lack of regulatory oversight of government employees.

Only a properly funded US stem cell research program will guarantee oversight and the protection of all involved.

Nuclear reactors deserve the extra round of oversight that comes with having them owned by Wisconsin utilities regulated by the Public Service Commission.

Never in recent history has so much government money been put into so many programs with so little oversight and so little proven impact.

If the Senate oversight committees are either unwilling or unable to tackle the tough but necessary questions associated with detention, interrogation or rendition of prisoners, then we should step aside -- regrettably, if we have to -- and let the work be done by others unfettered by other considerations,

I'd like to take this opportunity to again apologize to my readers for an oversight in not disclosing that I had done a small amount of work for the government in my specialty.

My initial view is positive, ... but the Federal Trade Commission does a very good oversight role of ensuring that consumers are protected.

Meaningful oversight must include proper scrutiny of all U.S. detention facilities, whether those facilities are located on U.S. or foreign soil.

Several market makers have given oversight responsibilities to their marketing organizations. That way the cost and benefit will be recognized, giving the company a balanced view of progress.

The prices are soaring. With the end of final government oversight of cable rates, the prices will continue to soar, because most consumers do not have a choice. There's only one cable company in their community.

We have since put in financial controls and oversight to try and prevent something like this from happening again.

I do not view this as a negative opinion from a corporate governance standpoint. It should not make those who ignore their responsibilities happy nor should it discourage those who seek greater levels of oversight of directors,

From what I do know, outsourcing in the Andean region is a way to avoid congressional oversight and public scrutiny. The use of private military contractors risks drawing the U.S. into regional conflicts and civil war. It's clear to me this practice must stop.

China will strengthen its clampdown on financial crimes including beefing up supervising and oversight systems and improving its legal system to prevent such violations. China has achieved big improvement on the issue last year.

I have stayed away because corporate governance, stock market oversight and regulation are all pretty poor in China. One way to play it is through Hong Kong. You can operate there with some real confidence, and that's probably your most direct play. The other way is through Taiwan.

If state surveyors are missing serious deficiencies in the quality of care, then the federal government has not yet achieved the necessary level of improvement in oversight of the inspection process.

I find it reprehensible considering he (Goss) failed to carry out adequate oversight when he sat on the House intelligence committee.

There is a higher level of federal oversight with the negotiation panel. There is a certain level of formality and clarity, and it gives us some reassurance.

We've been very prudent in this area over the years, with close and active oversight by the audit committee, ... But, in the current world, it's become more important than ever to make sure that our shareholders -- and the market as a whole -- have full confidence in our financial reports, including the integrity of the auditing process.

Standards need to be applied across the board. There was an outcry when a former government employee was seen as benefiting from a huge empowerment deal in a sector he had an oversight of. When the private sector does a similar thing people need to voice their objections.

Recent mergers have given the industry a strangle hold over the health insurance market. With fewer pressures for efficiency and no government oversight of rates, insurers have been given free rein to spend more of our health care dollars on overhead, profit, and administration. The last decade of HMO mergers has taught us that when fewer HMOs dominate the health care market, quality goes down, premiums go up, and patients get short changed. Already, 45 million Americans are uninsured because they cannot afford to pay the insurers' ransom.

Really, politics should stop at the door of that committee. I don't know whether Roberts is right or Rockefeller is right. But I do know that when you lose bipartisan oversight by that committee, you lose something very, very important.

Name-calling isn't going to answer the fundamental question of why there hasn't been oversight of the use of this intelligence information, ... And the fact that this administration hasn't even recognized there's been a mistake ...

I think for me, the bigger issue was just the disrespect our league got. .. To not see six of our Big 12 teams advance, to me, is just an incredible oversight and injustice.

I think some of the prevention has to do with oversight and reports. The bank can't police the individual transactions. That's a business issue.

I think that together the church has learned a lot, and as we know from our own oversight board, the involvement of our wonderful lay leaders has been a real grace.

I think the facilities committee could work more with the construction manager and the oversight committee. We could work together and report back to the board.

Oversight is an ongoing process by which Congress keeps an eye on the executive branch agencies. That is not what I see happening.

Our government is based upon a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances. The actions taken by the president undermine the very foundations of our country. We urge the relevant Congressional committees to investigate how the president abused his power as our chief executive. We applaud Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter for committing to hold oversight hearings. The American people deserve to know the truth.

Our preliminary review of these audits only underscores my long held concern about the fraud, mismanagement and lack of adequate oversight at the U.N.'s oil for food program,

I think one of the fundamental roles of Congress is to exercise oversight of the executive branch. And it's not happening.

We need someone to get in there and give them some direction. We need oversight by someone in a leadership position.

I was not asked to serve on one. I think it was an oversight by our president.

Unlike any other person at the university, the president has oversight over the entire campus. The students need to show the new president what the current issues are for them and show them that our student body is active and will let him know what is going on. That is the only way we can help direct the policies.

We have an oversight responsibility regardless of what criminal investigations may or may not be under way.

We must not allow the possibility of compromising our national security due to lack of review or oversight by the federal government.

We are training for objective behavior characteristics. Certainly, there is some interpretation, but there has to be such an aggregate number of concerns before we do get involved, and there will be constant review and oversight and analysis of the data to be sure their folks are performing in a proper manner.

What we need is a national coordinated federal law enforcement oversight of airports because we are only as safe as our weakest link.

We really feel there was a lack of oversight and failed responsibility for disclosure of compensation practices. There was an eleventh-hour attempt to come up with corporate practice guidelines, but, in our view, it shouldn't take a proxy threat to get action.

This program is here to provide one cohesive unit that's accountable: accountable to the judges in that we have to show when things were filed, and accountable to the taxpayers in that the Commissioners Court has some oversight of our budget.

Today's agreement between Putnam and the SEC provides some preliminary measures to address certain of the issues raised in the actions filed against Putnam. However, these measures represent only a starting point for needed industry reforms in fund governance and oversight and do not address crucial issues involving restitution to fund holders, fines and penalties,

We are reasserting congressional responsibility and oversight with respect to this program.

We are reasserting congressional responsibility of oversight with respect to this program.

We believed we were members who should have had a say in the actions the board have taken. I don't think the board wants to do anything malicious. I just think it's an oversight on their part.

Writing them a blank check and not being able to have oversight does not achieve that,

The fact that Congress wasn't aware that the FBI has used some 30,000 national security letters over the past few years is an indication that not enough oversight has been done. The money-laundering sections of the Patriot Act require scores of businesses to track the transactions of their customers and report to the government. It's an aspect of the Patriot Act that doesn't get much attention, but it should. This has huge implications for people's privacy.

The fact that the FISA court released this opinion today is an important breakthrough for our oversight effort, ... We have never had access to this kind of information before. It will contribute to the analysis we've got under way and help us determine what is wrong with the FISA process...

The fact that the president is now seeding the Supreme Court with people who have been handmaidens in his efforts to increase the power of the executive without any check or oversight whatsoever is very disturbing.

The fact that there appears to be no oversight to ensure quality and accuracy is a big concern.

There already exists oversight by the Federal Communications Commission today that has proven to be effective in protecting consumers' right to be in control of their Internet experience." ()

When presidents have overstepped the rule of law, history demonstrates how it undermined our core freedoms. We hope that Congress will assert its proper oversight role and demand accountability from the administration. The American people deserve no less from their government. Freedom and liberty must not be trumped by presidential power.

We can't afford to wait, ... We must restore integrity to our investment and pension systems and strengthen government oversight of them. We cannot allow what happened to Enron employees happen to the rest of America.

We understand the FAA's oversight obligation, and we look forward to demonstrating our continuing commitment to do everything we can to assure the highest level of safety in the airline business,

What these open government laws do is break down that wall of government secrecy so that everybody knows what's going on. A democracy can only function if we have information. You can only have oversight of government if you have information.

Our success has come from the lack of oversight we've provided, and our success will continue to be from a lack of oversight. But if you're going to provide minimal oversight, you have to buy carefully. It's a different model from GE's. GE's works - it's just very different from ours.

We're seeing a consistent movement in the corporate workforce with more of the benefit cost burden being shifted to the employee. Ultimately, employees will be required to take on greater management oversight for their own health and welfare and retirement plans.

We applaud those lawmakers, from both sides of the aisle, who have demanded the truth from the government. The rule of law has been broken, and Congress and the public have a right to know. Effective and public oversight can be done without compromising state secrets. The administration must stop using national security as a blanket reason to keep their illegal activities hidden in the shadows.

Congress has a duty to taxpayers to make informed decisions when carrying out its legislative, appropriation, and oversight functions. Such decisions require access to timely and accurate information, and when access is restricted, we are unable to provide oversight and fulfill our constitutional responsibilities.

Congress has an oversight function, and I have the responsibility to pursue an investigation the right way, which is certainly not to disclose the details of how I'm going to conduct an investigation, ... We will be working with Chairman Burton to see how we both fulfill those functions.

While we cannot comment on our discussion, we can tell you that we appreciate their oversight of consumers in Oregon and we are responding to their requests.

These centers operate with no state oversight whatsoever. Church officials time and time again tell judges and prosecutors these facilities are secure, when they are not.

The stem cell institute's recent responsiveness to public input in a number of areas is encouraging. The stem cell oversight committee members finally understand they are a state agency and must involve the public.

We need to build on what we know works - local oversight of schools to keep a check on performance, timely interventions in schools to support those at risk of failing, and partnerships between schools to help each one to improve.

We will have an oversight committee that can work as a recommending body, work with me and work with the board, and help us do the things that we want to see done in the Priority Two list. The committee will help us get deeper into that list with the money that we have left after we do the Priority One projects.

The role of ICANN shouldn't change but what has to change is the oversight role,

The way it's written now, the legislative branch would totally give up any oversight of those records. That's the danger.

They actually ran a very good, under CFTC oversight and under exchange oversight, futures business, where all customers were always properly margined.

It would appear that most of Europe is a happy hunting ground for foreign security services. Hardly any country ... has any legal provisions to ensure an effective oversight over the activities of foreign security services.

The safe use of these important devices requires the involvement of many, including the companies. Safety oversight is something that is always undergoing important improvements and is best carried out when all cooperate in a timely and prudent manner.

It was an oversight that they were not on the list. It was a mistake.

You had 60 companies all around the country doing slightly different things, and there was no one oversight or one advisory group, one controlling unit. Now you have that.

The public expects and deserves the protection that effective government oversight provides. Until the Bush administration shows it is willing to do the job, however, it appears the public will have to rely on state regulators and lawmakers to protect its interests,

We had seen them play and felt that they couldn't beat us. But we didn't consider the emotional aspect. This oversight led to a very hard game.

Without oversight or enforcement, rule changes are virtually meaningless.

Depriving an entire branch of government of its ability to exercise meaningful oversight is a decidedly wrong course to take.

During the Clinton years, we were fighting that kangaroo court - they never said no. Here we are now wishing for the little oversight that the court had.

As I reviewed the number of documents about John Roberts record, it is imperative that there is intensive oversight during the hearings, ... The Supreme Court is a lifetime appointment. We cannot afford to lose ground on the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the affirmative action executive order in the Nixon White House, and the rights to fairness in the criminal justice system.

As chairman of the subcommittee responsible for Iraq's reconstruction, I have seen the positive and necessary oversight role a special inspector general plays in monitoring this spending.

They take on great risk and accordingly deserve the highest standard of regulatory oversight possible. This bill achieves that.

This illustrates the principle that unchecked authority goes astray. In this case, it's a relatively trivial infraction. But to me the point is that we need more aggressive and penetrating oversight than we have.

Our current way of regulating the financial system is dysfunctional. Oversight is dispersed among numerous confusing bodies that at times have seemed to be racing each other to the bottom. Setting up One Big Regulator would end that problem.

Right now there really is no oversight of who is doing what with human embryonic stem cells. The hope is that our guidelines will help to create a fairly uniform set of standards from one institution to another.

Fiscal oversight and fiscal responsibility are a huge, huge part of being a school board member. We can sit here all day long and ask Albany for more money, but if we're not spending it wisely, we don't deserve it.

FIS provides a host of services designed to help our clients manage their businesses. One way we can do that is to help them navigate the ever-increasing challenges of regulatory compliance. The introduction of our new source code escrow service will help simplify their ability to meet vendor management oversight responsibilities.

Even for the Clinton Administration, the ends do not justify the means, ... As pleased as most of us are that Elian is reunited with his father ... our oversight responsibilities compel us to examine whether the conduct of the attorney general and the Department of Justice are in accord with federal law, effective law-enforcement procedures, and the Constitution.

Ethics can get forgotten as other nations and private companies race to fill the void left by the president's reluctance to fund stem cell research. Only a properly funded U.S. stem cell research program will guarantee oversight and the protection of all involved.