Joseph W. Barr Quotes
Too often I have seen intelligent, experienced witnesses demolished before these [congressional] committees because they have not taken the trouble to do their homework.... [The witness] is confronted with an independent panel of specialized experts who usually possess vastly more experience than he.
Joseph W. Barr, U. S. Congressman (Democrat, IN), Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Under Secretary of the Treasury, Speech, American Society for Public Administration, September 22, 1965
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Testifying before a Senate committee:
In 1871 the congressman refused to serve as chairman of a committee to investigate the Ku Klux Klan. Such pandering to the South was common for politicians who had national aspirtation. If the politican served on such a committee, he would have to aknowledge the existance of the murders, torture, and other criminal activity of an organzation that was very popular in the South. Or he would have to cover up the KKK crimes and lose the support of Northerners. So refusing to serve on the committee was the prudent solution.
In one of the most blatant statements of the arbitrary power of congressional committee chairmen, the chairman of the House Rules Committee blocked an investigation of military procurement even though every other member of the committee wanted to pursue the investigation. The prerogative of the chairman was upheld by the Speaker, and on appeal, by the House as a whole, but by 1924 House rules were amended to diminish the arbitrary power of chairmen.
In response to Administration tactics to delay a vote on the Church-Cooper proposal to limit American involvement in Cambodia after June 30, 1970, Senator Cotton asserted:
Discussing the major congressional committees of the House of Representatives:
Referring to a new, complex tax bill that Congress had just passed:
- Born: January 17, 1918
- Died: February 23, 1996
- Nationality: American
- Profession: Government
Joseph Walker Barr was an American businessman and politician from Indiana. He served one term in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Secretary of the Treasury from December 21, 1968 until January 20, 1969, in President Lyndon B. Johnson's cabinet. He was a member of the Democratic Party.
