Political Quotes

“let me respond to my colleague from New Mexico. With the adoption of the Exon-Grassley amendment, defense is going to be adversely affected regardless of whether or not this amendment is approved. Let me say to my colleague from New Mexico, the Senator from Iowa, who chairs the Labor-HHS Appropriations subcommittee and who doles out the money for special education, is a cosponsor of this amendment. I agree that unless Members decide to back what we are doing in the appropriations process, he is right, we are in trouble. I know of no other way to further that cause than to establish our priorities collectively in the budget process. By doing so we, as a body, may speak and say this is important. The fact that the chairman of the committee who will make the decision on the final funding issues is a cosponsor of the amendment, I think enhances our chances. But more important is the substance of what we are talking about: Property taxes, the American dream of owning a home. Here we have a tax at the local level which is growing in leaps and bounds. The pressure on the local communities is staggering. This amendment says that additional Federal resources should go to try to reduce the local and State commitment that is presently taxing them so much, and have the Federal Government live up to its commitments. We are not even close to meeting our commitment.”