Timothy Roemer: “the Space Station of the future, what we have in this bill, and we have agreed to a balanced budget, we have in this…”

“the Space Station of the future, what we have in this bill, and we have agreed to a balanced budget, we have in this bill zero funding of AmeriCorps, yet full funding for the Space Station. The President asked for 100,000 Section 8 vouchers for the poorest of the poor in our communities. We could not even pass an amendment to get vouchers for 35,000 of those poor people. And $80 million is cut for community development block grants from the 1998 level, again for the poorest of the poor, the people who have not benefitted from the economic bull market. That is the Space Station of the future, taking money away from other valuable programs. In conclusion, let me quote from Shakespeare in the Merchant of Venice. He said, ``They are sick that surfeit with too much, as those that starve with nothing.'' ``They are sick that surfeit with too much, as those that starve with nothing.'' Mr. Chairman, the choice is easy. Do we continue to pour 10 and 20 and 30 billion dollars into a science program that we can admit has not been successful? And do we starve with nothing the people that have not benefited from this economy?”