Jerry Lewis: “The fact is that the rescission that was proposed initially essentially said that the House-passed appropriations bill…”

“The fact is that the rescission that was proposed initially essentially said that the House-passed appropriations bill from last year was the bill we wanted to support. The rescissions involved add-ons on the Senate side. If there was pork involved, perhaps it was Senate pork. But indeed we decided to eliminate the Senate adds so that we could have a healthy discussion in conference with the Senate. There is no doubt that as we go forward with this $38 billion in spending, if we will shake up departments like HUD, like Veterans, there is little question that we can improve the way we deliver these services to Americans across the country. If the gentleman from Massachusetts is satisfied with the way many veterans are served by standing in lines half the day, then the gentleman is welcome to that satisfaction. It is my view that it is time we shake these departments in a fashion that causes them to pay attention to those we want to serve as human beings, not just as people with numbers on their forehead.”