Political Quotes

“Which is a good goal. But if the author of the legislation attempts to obtain that estimate, and it is impossible for the CBO to make it, even if there is a diligent request, why not allow the Director to be honest? Why force the Director to make an estimate which is absolutely a wild, out-of-the-blue estimate, just so he can comply with the law? Is that helpful to us in terms of our legislative process? Do we really know more about the cost of intergovernmental mandates when a Director of the CBO, faced with this kind of a requirement that he estimate the specific amount of a mandate, throws up his or her hands and says, ``I cannot do it, and if I have to do it--and that is what the law says when it comes to intergovernmental mandates--I am going to say it is from $1 million to $1 billion; that is the best I can do''; is that really helpful to us in terms of understanding the impact of mandates? I do not think it is helpful. I think we ought to be honest and acknowledge that there will be occasions when the Director of the CBO cannot estimate.”