John McCain Quotes

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

Before we give you billions more, we want to know what you've done with the trillion you've got.

The same prudence which in private life would forbid our paying our own money for unexplained projects, forbids it in the dispensation of public moneys.

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.

Earmarks have become a symbol of a Congress that has broken faith with the people. This earmark ban shows the American people we are listening and we are dead serious about ending business as usual in Washington.

I think every program needs to stand the sunshine of righteous scrutiny. Whether it's Social Security, whether it's Medicaid, whether it's Medicare.

House and Senate Republicans are now united in adopting earmark bans. We hope President Obama will follow through on his support for an earmark ban by pressing Democratic leaders to join House and Senate Republicans in taking this critical step to restore public trust.

The taxpayers deserve accountability.

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.

Three groups spend other people's money: children, thieves, politicians. All three need supervision.

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.

It is not for the State Department or even the Secretary of State to say when and how the resources of the American people will be spent.

It is the duty of those serving the people in public place to closely limit public expenditures to the actual needs of the Government economically administered.

If you think that my job is to rob the Federal Treasury on your behalf, you have voted for the wrong man

Congress is not an ATM

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

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.

I have never been reimbursed at the federal level. Never want to be in a million years. To me, it's just not worth the red flag.

In many cases, here we are, putting out reports that we're spending $100 million a year on, and we're telling the public, 'Oh, you don't have access to them.'

I came to Congress on the promise of cutting wasteful government spending. There are plenty of examples of the government playing loose with taxpayer money, but none more so than how we spend our foreign aid dollars.

With each new appropriations bill Congress considers, I have to ask myself, 'Is this a good way to spend taxpayer dollars?'

While security of national leadership is of paramount significance, expenditure on permanent civil structures at the family home of the prime minister and chief minister from public exchequer will be a burden on their conscience.

This is the people's money, and we need to use it on their priorities. Increasing the pay of members of Congress is not their priority.

It's not fair to say that Congress spends money like a drunk sailor. At least the sailor is spending his own money!