Jasper Packard: “Mr. Speaker, it is pleasure to present the conference report on the 1996 legislative branch appropriations bill. This is…”

“Mr. Speaker, it is pleasure to present the conference report on the 1996 legislative branch appropriations bill. This is the first 1996 appropriations bill to come out of conference, but there are a number close behind us. The conference report presents a bill that will greatly reduce the size of our own branch of Government. To summarize, the conference agreement provides budget authority of $2.18 billion. This is $433 million below the President's budget request, a 16.5 percent reduction. It is $205.7 million below fiscal year 1995; that's an 8.6 percent reduction in funding below the current year. This agreement reduces legislative branch jobs [FTE's] by 2,614 under fiscal year 1995, Senate staffing excluded; that's a 9.5 percent reduction in jobs. Finally, the conference agreement is $114.7 million below our 602(b) budget resolution target. The House and Senate concluded a successful conference. There were 55 amendments to the House bill, all were resolved by the conferees.”