Political Quotes

“The amendment has to do with Custom user fees. Today, Custom user fees come in two separate categories, which I will discuss in a moment. About 300 million of them are statutorily designated to go to a particular set of accounts in the Customs Service. For example, it pays overtime for Customs Service personnel. There is about $1 billion in Custom users fees that takes a somewhat more circuitous route that goes into the general fund--generally money which the Appropriations Committee defines as funds for funding various functions of the Customs Service, hence the name ``user fee.'' In fact, I will digress for a moment. We have taxes and we have user fees by which we raise revenue. User fees are generally targeted toward people who use a particular service of the Government. So we generally try to spend that money on the things for which they require us to use the money. An example is, if you use the national forest, you are beginning to find that you have to pay a little fee to go camping there.”