Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, they tell me that reasonable men will differ, and being reasonable, I am sure that we will have some differences. I do, but first before I point out the differences, I would like to also commend the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young). In the way he treats our membership in the two bills that have been reported out, agriculture and now the leg branch, he has done it in a very bipartisan manner, and I want to commend him for the fairness with which he has dealt with our side. He has been a very fair gentleman. I want to commend him on that. I asked someone to look at the figure of the reduction, which is approximately about $28 million, and the reduction of the MRA account. It runs about $60,000 to $65,000 per Member. We believe that that cut, which will affect our staff, is too drastic. When asked to cut this bill in a bipartisan manner, we offered $12 million, even though we knew it was going to be hard. We were told it was not enough, so we offered another amount of dollars that totalled $30 million. That was not enough. We feel that the additional approximately $30 million is too much and will affect the effectiveness of our offices, especially in the ability to make sure that our employees, who work long hours, they work very hard, will be treated like other employees in the House and the Federal government and will be able to receive a fair cost of living adjustment.”