Political Quotes

“My amendment would prohibit any funding from going to the Energy Information Administration, which under this bill is set to receive $122 million in taxpayer money. Mr. Chairman, rule XXI of the House rules prohibits funding programs that are not authorized under law. The authorization process is so important because it gives Congress the ability to set each agency's agenda, provide proper oversight, and ensure the agency is fulfilling the mission it was designed by Congress to meet. Nearly one-third of the Federal discretionary spending goes to programs whose mandate to exist has expired. In this bill, we will fund 28 programs that have expired authorizations, many which expired in the 1980s. One program that we are funding has existed since the 1970s, but has never been authorized by Congress. The Energy Information Administration, which this amendment would block funding for, is one of the worst offenders. Its authorization expired in 1984, over 30 years ago. That means that the last time this agency received proper congressional instructions, oversight, and review, the Los Angeles Raiders had won the Super Bowl, Ronald Reagan was in the White House, and ``Ghostbusters'' was in the theaters. The Energy Information Administration has seen its fair share of challenges since it was last authorized. In fact, a few years ago The Wall Street Journal wrote an article about how errors by the EIA caused a significant jump in oil prices.…”