Jerry Lewis: “Mr. Speaker, it would be very difficult for the chairman of the subcommittee to object to this amendment, for…”

“Mr. Speaker, it would be very difficult for the chairman of the subcommittee to object to this amendment, for essentially the amendment confirms that which was the direction of the House. I must say that I am both a little confused and rather startled at the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), ranking member of the full committee, essentially carrying an amendment that would in its written form appear to limit the flexibility of the subcommittee that goes to conference with the other body. While the Office of Management and Budget had told us that we needed to have these monies out of discretionary accounts for administrative purposes, and after we walked the plank taking money that otherwise could have gone to other vital needs in housing areas, essentially forced us in the direction of putting discretionary money into administrative responsibilities, they have now cut off that plank which was the plank that the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Vento) found himself on and they have now had us on that plank and neatly cut it off. My concern, though, is that there is little doubt that within Veterans Medical Care we have done all that we could to make certain that those accounts were reasonably funded. Indeed, our amount in the bill, before this amendment, was over the President's request.”