Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Senator Chuck Grassley today on the Senate floor asked unanimous consent for the Senate to begin consideration of a bill to ensure that inspectors general across the federal bureaucracy have timely access to all records needed to complete a thorough and independent investigation. Grassley's unanimous consent request was objected to by Senate minority leader Harry Reid in an effort to hide the identities of members who are holding up passage of the bill. The objection was made in violation of the spirit of the Standing Order of the Senate that says members who have holds on legislation must be identified.
In a statement after the objection, Grassley said, "This bill is about giving inspectors general the tools they need to provide proper oversight of the executive branch. These are common sense solutions to helping root out waste, fraud and abuse. Objecting to a bipartisan bill whose authors have been working for months in good faith, without offering constructive assistance to improving it, reflects poorly on the Senate as a whole."
The text of Grassley's speech on the Inspector General Empowerment Act is below.
Video of Grassley's floor speech can be found here.
