Mike Levin: “while that is being worked on--I hope we can resolve that because this is a very important amendment. We want that…”

“while that is being worked on--I hope we can resolve that because this is a very important amendment. We want that Special Inspector General, who is really doing the only significant oversight on the expenditure of these billions of dollars in Iraq, to perform the same oversight functions on the appropriations, for instance, which we just adopted. I again commend the Senator from Wisconsin. It was at his instigation and his initiative that we extended this Special Inspector General's Office last year, and it was that initiative which has paid off so handsomely for us. This initiative is critically important or else we might, I think inadvertently, not have the same watchdog looking over the most recent appropriations we adopted. I also believe the Special Inspector General actually testified before the Chair's subcommittee earlier this year, so the Presiding Officer has had the ability to hear firsthand from the Special Inspector General about his operations. By the way, I commend our Presiding Officer for those hearings. They were very helpful.”