Tom Harkin: “I just want to compliment my good friend from Pennsylvania for offering this amendment. I do compliment the…”

“I just want to compliment my good friend from Pennsylvania for offering this amendment. I do compliment the distinguished chairman of the Budget Committee for all that they did to replace the money on LIHEAP. They did a great job in doing that. I am most appreciative of their doing that and the funding they put in for paternal and child health care and all those programs. But, nonetheless, they were operating under some constraints and could not quite get all of the money in that I think was required. So I just want to say that everything that Senator Specter said is absolutely right. He is absolutely right in everything he said about the problems we had in the subcommittee in meeting those targets. He crafted a good amendment. It is needed, and I support it wholeheartedly. I hope it passes overwhelmingly. I thank the Senator for his help on our subcommittee in meeting the human needs of our citizens in the country. He is a valued member of that subcommittee, and I enjoy working with him. Again, I compliment him on offering this amendment.”