Sam Gejdenson: “you know one of the problems we have here, there are a number of issues before us. First of all, if we fail to pass this…”

“you know one of the problems we have here, there are a number of issues before us. First of all, if we fail to pass this resolution, it does not stop the legislative process. Frankly, when we came here in January we operated without a funding resolution. The Congress then organized and we are able to continue. If we do not pass this rule today, we can come back here on the 8th or the 9th of April and pass a funding resolution that pays people for the work they have done, and there is no crisis in government if we do not pass this rule today. One of the major issues as a Member of Congress, and we do not do this for Federal agencies as a general rule, is we do not create slush funds. Now as my colleagues know, it seems the answer around here is, ``If you put gates at the end of almost any term it becomes somehow criminalized.'' So I guess we have to call this Slushgate. We are bringing up here an amount of money that no Member of Congress in his right mind would vote for investigations--the October Surprise spent under $2 million; I think a million four. We are taking the committee of the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Burton], and we are moving it from about 6 rac{1}{2} million to around 12 million, and then we have got Slushgate. Then we got another 7.8 or $9 million sitting there in a little pot that no Member of Congress on this floor is going to have a chance to vote on on the floor. They are going to do it back in the committee where there are no lights.…”