John B. Breaux: “the idea that Congress ought to be involved in how the money is spent is not a novel idea. If we are going to spend…”

“the idea that Congress ought to be involved in how the money is spent is not a novel idea. If we are going to spend $1.135 billion, Congress ought to be involved in saying how it is going to be spent. The bill before the Senate now says that we are going to give $1.135 billion to the Office of the Secretary of Homeland Security, and whatever he wants to do with it, he pretty much has carte blanche to do whatever he thinks fit. I would hope he would make the right decisions, but I would like to have Congress involved in saying these are the priorities within that $1.135 billion as to what we think should be spent and how it should be spent. We do not do our job if we just appropriate money and do not indicate how the money should be spent, especially when you are talking about billions of dollars. Here is an example. The Senator from Mississippi says we have a report that makes suggestions. Folks, this is a suggestion. This could be filed in a desk drawer at the Department, thrown in the waste paper basket, and ignored, because it doesn't have the effect of law. It is nice that people worked on it and that it was printed, but how many people will read it? Not very many, and not many will read it over at the Department of Homeland Security either. If you want to say how money is going to be spent, it has to be part of the law. We are not saying spend whatever you want. We are giving him a specific amount.”