Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark), a member of the subcommittee.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark), who is my good friend.

They are right now because of hurricane relief.

We have a bill called 'The Taxpayers Right-to-Know' that passed unanimously in the House and over here is being held up by, I think, five of my colleagues that do not want to do it.

Mr. Chairman, the gentleman's amendment has no net impact on the funding of the bill, so I do not oppose the amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

So Members of Congress beating up people they have never met is not appropriate.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition. The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Oklahoma is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Ben Ray Lujan). The question was taken; and the Acting Chair announced that the noes…

Mr. Chairman, having yielded to people on both sides of the debate, I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey). The question was taken; and…

Why do we not consolidate agencies and Federal departments that perform similar duties?

It takes 450 days to hire one person.

I think you referred to your written testimony. Did you get more detail there?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, this is kind of interesting because there are so many areas here where we are in agreement.

I was chairman of this Committee at the time that we went through this and, yes, it is ironic that was set up in order to make things come out cleaner, and it didn't work out that way.

I guess I would like to have a comment from each one of you because I've heard from this Committee that there are some arguments that we're actually going to be employing more people.

Mr. President, I want to discuss an amendment, and I am not sure when it will be offered--I understand it will be offered--and I think it is very significant. First of all, let's keep in mind what this is all about. The NDAA is the…

Well, you know, in my State of Oklahoma we are doing this right now.

What I'd like to have all of you do is give some thought to how the Federal Government, if we're talking about making changes, not just in this Act, but in other Acts, to try to enhance what this is all about today.