Robert Byrd in The Test of our Times


On Homeland Security: Required public disclosure of where DHS money is going

I [met with] Sen. Byrd, figuring that informal briefings might satisfy Congress's need to know. He was, as always, both gracious and persistent. He was one of the most courtly gentlemen in Washington--unfailingly polite and civil in tone. It is a lost art in this town, disagreeing without being disagreeable, and challenging without being confrontational. He was even cordial when he asked me, "What's happening to the money?" By that, he meant the billions that we had secured for the budget.

Then he pulled out a well-thumbed pocket edition of the Constitution. Referring to it, Sen. Byrd said, "This says Congress has the power of the purse." He wasn't interested, he said, in private briefings. He wanted public testimony. He said, "I am unaware of any instance in which a private briefing has been used as a substitute for responding to a Senate Appropriations Committee request for testimony concerning a funding need." Sen. Byrd's approach with me was clever, cordial, and always gracious.

Source: The Test of our Times, by Tom Ridge, p. 92 Sep 1, 2009

The above quotations are from The Test of our Times:
America Under Siege...And How We Can Be Safe Again, by Gov. Tom Ridge.
Click here for other excerpts from The Test of our Times:
America Under Siege...And How We Can Be Safe Again, by Gov. Tom Ridge.
Click here for other excerpts by Robert Byrd.
Click here for a profile of Robert Byrd.
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