Political Quotes

“now, under my hypothetical the Congressional Budget Office has made an estimate. It has taken into consideration each of the items that have been mentioned in the authorizing bill. I could not agree more with the Senator from Idaho that there are many items in the authorizing bill that affect these direct costs. There could be hundreds of them. The CBO is mandated by this bill to make an estimate. I would not only hope but it is the assumption of this chart that the CBO has taken all of the authorizing bill's factors into account. After taking them all into account, which it is required to do, and after consulting with the State, local and tribal governments, it has reached this conclusion that I set forth on this chart. I do not think it is accurate to say there is a puzzle here of which this is a part. This chart is the conclusion of the CBO after putting together the puzzle. They have taken each piece of the puzzle and put the puzzle together and that puzzle leads them to this conclusion. The CBO under my hypothetical has each piece of that puzzle together and reached the conclusion that has been set forth on this chart. It is true that there are many pieces. It is the CBO that has to consider those pieces and then give an estimate. Unless we can tell them now, in a hypothetical such as this, when is the first fiscal year in which that estimate is effective, we are closing our eyes to a major ambiguity and we are going on to the next ambiguity.”