Political Quotes

“the Brown amendment to the welfare bill sounds good on the surface, and I suspect it will pass by a large margin. But, I will vote against it, and I want to explain why. The fact is, this amendment would be prejudicial to my State of Delaware. It would require all States to treat their Federal welfare block grant funds as if they were State revenues, thus requiring the moneys to be appropriated by the State legislature. However, Delaware is one of only six States where the General Assembly has decided that Federal moneys can bypass the State legislature and be directly appropriated to a State agency by the governor. In other words, State legislators in Delaware have decided themselves to forego the right to appropriate Federal funds. I simply do not believe that this bill is the time or the place to change my State's budget law and longstanding appropriations process. If the Delaware General Assembly wants to appropriate the Federal funds that Delaware receives, the General Assembly is fully within its rights to change Delaware's law. But, I cannot support imposing that on my State--especially in a bill that is intended, according to its sponsors, to give States more rights and flexibility.”