Political Quotes

“The bill under consideration today is probably the smallest appropriations bill that we see each year, at least in terms of the number of dollars involved. It funds the operations of the legislative branch--both the operational expenses of the congressional offices and the expenses which occur in protecting and maintaining Capitol grounds. This bill decreases in several places, and it holds the line on a number of accounts as well. In total, the bill provides funding which is in line with the amount provided just last year. I commend the Appropriations Committee for this. However, there are also a number of increases found within the bill. Earlier this week, I submitted amendments to the Rules Committee, all of which were meant to target accounts which received seemingly inexplicable increases. I have been allowed one amendment today, only one, which would decrease funding for the Capitol Visitor Center by $243,000 and move the same amount to the spending reduction account. This move would result in the Visitor Center funding being equal to the amount which was appropriated last year, just keeping it at the same level. The Capitol Visitor Center opened to the public in December of 2008, and according to the Congressional Research Service, it cost more than $600 million to complete. While the Visitor Center received about $65 million in private donations, the rest of its cost was borne by taxpayers.…”