Scott Walker: “this amendment essentially is an attempt to bring about where the authorization bill is in the energy area in line with…”

“this amendment essentially is an attempt to bring about where the authorization bill is in the energy area in line with where the Interior appropriations conference report has come in terms of numbers. So what we do in this particular amendment is align the 1996 authorization levels for fossil energy and energy conservation R&D with the levels contained in the 1996 Interior appropriations conference report. I think that solves the problems of a couple of Members who wanted to make certain that our authorization bill, if it passed, did not interfere with the arrangements that have already been made with regard to the fossil energy accounts in the present appropriations bill. But beyond that, it needs to be understood that one of the reasons why we accepted somewhat higher levels than the original authorization bill called for in Interior appropriations was because there was a problem in terms of close-out costs and a number of other anomalies in the process that gave them a 1-year problem. So as a result, when the House committee came forward with its report, that is, the appropriations subcommittee, what they did was indicated that they would then look at a plan for downsizing these accounts over the years in the future.”