Dave Barry Quotes

I think there's been a decline in the public's access to what's being done with their tax dollars, what's being done in their name. I hope that that will be repaired.

The Senate must stop doing so much of its business in secret, behind closed doors…. A bill that affects the nation’s security has been held up for months by a secret hold and cannot see the light of day…. There is no accountability…. The person who exercises a hold ought to be identified…. Secret holds have been the bane of the United States Senate for decades. So much for sunshine in the United States Senate.

Throughout my first term in office, we have taken many steps to keep my commitment to make my work in Congress as transparent and accessible as possible.

We should never waive the checks on government spending that taxpayers deserve.

Congress must go further to protect the right to privacy, to end the NSA's dragnet surveillance of ordinary Americans, to make the intelligence community more transparent and accountable.

Are there two sets of laws in this country—one that applies to Congress and one for the rest of America? At a minimum, it goes to a lack of public accountability. At its worst, it's raw hypocrisy. The practice ought to stop, and today is as good a time as any to start.

Democratic government is responsible government—which means accountable government--and the essential problem in contracting out is that responsibility and accountability are greatly diminished.

Public business in the United State Senate should be done in the public.

Everything the CIA does is secret and it is secret particularly from the Congress.

Louisiana showed up at the top of a study of political corruption that calculated the number of convictions per capita. Georgia came out as worst on a corruption risk report from the State Integrity Investigation, which measured factors like accountability, transparency and ethics enforcement.

How much we all suffer from lack of oversight from the government.

Secrecy is an instrument of conspiracy; it ought not, therefore, to be the system of a regular government

I never will support any Government in fraudulently concealing from the King the rights of his people.

Congress has the constitutional authority to investigate the other agencies of government. We are the watchdogs of the taxpayer's money, and we have the right to know how that money is being spent and to conduct oversight over the government.

Independence sounds good in theory, but in practice, it is mutually exclusive with accountability. The more independence you give a prosecutor, the less you make that prosecutor accountable to the public and regular checks and balances.

As both Republican Study Committee Chairman and Majority Whip, I've made it a top priority to bring openness and inclusiveness into the legislative process so we can bring our dynamic conference together as we advance our agenda.

If you have faith in the public sector, as I do, you must be the harshest critic of corruption, waste and fraud in government.

There are always ways to make government better, always ways to make sure that the taxes of people are better spent.

Sunlight is better than secrecy when it comes to making laws.

Secretary Clinton should be denied access to classified information. Congress must also hold the State Department accountable for fixing the culture of lax handling of classified information.

The American people deserve to know what's on Trump's tax returns. And Trump must show that he truly embraces accountability and transparency and understands what it means to work on behalf of the public interest.

I certainly tried to make the House a more open and effective place, and I believe I succeeded.

Edward Snowden, who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, professes to have had access to whatever he wanted to know about anyone's anything. If he's telling the truth, why does he have such permeability without any government oversight? Is that OK with you?

The president, it seems to me, stands out as the one person in our system who is in a unique position where the checks on any lack of integrity there are more important than for anyone else in the system of government.

The Office of Congressional Ethics was created to provide more transparency in the House of Representatives. It was a commendable goal.