Porter Goss: “Mr. Speaker, this is the first of the appropriations bills to make it through the conference process, and I wish to…”

“Mr. Speaker, this is the first of the appropriations bills to make it through the conference process, and I wish to commend the bill's managers, the gentleman from California [Mr. Packard], as well as the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Livingston], the chairman of the full committee who is here, for making sure that the legislative branch leads the way in the belt tightening that we know is going to be done. This conference report, which obviously funds the conference, comes in at $200 million below the actual amount spent for the current fiscal year. That is a real cut. That is real savings and one we can all be proud of, I think, in these tight budgetary times. Mr. Speaker, the issue has been raised today that somehow the conferees of this spending bill failed because they did not include provisions reforming the gift rule for Members of this House. Well, the first point here is that reform of the gift rule, although it is a matter of great importance and very significant interest to many people, is not within the scope of the legislative branch funding bill. It is an apples and oranges problem.”