Ehud Olmert Quotes

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.

The American people should not be footing the bill for federal employees who stonewall Congress or rewarding government officials' bad behavior.

The taxpayers deserve accountability.

I'm gonna watch the taxpayers' money like I was elected to do.

I know as well as anyone that the American people want to know that their hard-earned dollars are being spent wisely by government officials.

It's my father's legacy. My father's view was that the public is the employer of these government employees and has the right to know what they're up to.

We need transparency in government spending. We need to put each government expenditure online so every Floridian can see where their tax money is being spent.

If everyone in America can easily see who and what their lawmakers are requesting taxpayer money for, we can keep elected officials honest, end the days of political, special interest favors, and reduce wasteful spending.

While I can see how the government has, at times, wasted taxpayers' money, and I can admit that too often its programs are ineffective, I also can see the good that government does.

I firmly believe that the most important feature of spending the people's money is complete transparency.

We need more transparency and accountability in government so that people know how their money is being spent. That means putting budgets online, putting legislation online.

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.

Most Americans recognize that whatever the government program is, no matter how essential it is, it's waste.

We are not spending the Federal Government's money, we are spending the taxpayer's money, and it must be spent n a way which guarantees his money's worth and yields the fullest possible benefit to the people being helped.

In our recovery package we put new standards of accountability and transparency, which we hope will now apply.

The concern is the Government is not coming clean and informing the Australian public of the assumptions that they have made to give rise to a $10.4 billion package.

No expense has been incurred but what has been approved of and provided for by Parliament.

I introduced the Transparency in Government Act, a multi-faceted transparency bill that would bring unprecedented access and accountability to the federal government.

Our constituents did not send us to Washington to shut down the government. They sent us here to make it more accountable.

My slogan when I ran was that there is no such thing as government money, there is only taxpayer's money, and that cut pretty deep.

The government itself is — and should be — accountable when its officials run amok.

Government ... simply has no bottom line.

The Pentagon says that they are too big to be audited. That’s an insult. They spend $700 billion a year. They need to be audited.

From now on, the government has to make its accounts public on a quarterly basis.

Every public official concerned with administering public funds owes it to all our citizens to be prepared at any time to account to the last penny of the public money placed in his hands.