Jerry Moran: “I was not here when we had the Iran-Contra investigation of clearly illegal activities, but I was here when the new…”

“I was not here when we had the Iran-Contra investigation of clearly illegal activities, but I was here when the new Republican majority took over the Congress with promises to slash congressional spending, to cut committees, to reduce staff, to eliminate duplication, to reform the legislative process. Now we have a proposal that does just the opposite of all those promises. In that process of eliminating committees and slashing congressional expenses, the majority eliminated the two subcommittees that would have had jurisdiction over this matter, the Europe and Asia Subcommittees of the International Relations Committee. The purpose of that was to save half a million dollars over the entire year. The average subcommittee spends $189,000 over a 6-month period. This subcommittee will spend $1 million over a 6-month period. It will be the most expensive subcommittee in the entire Congress, more expensive than the health, Social Security, crime, and military readiness subcommittees. Any of those other subcommittees pale by comparison to what we are going to spend here. In fact, this spending is understated. I grant you there is a line for new RCA color TV's and other things like that, bottled water, but there is not an inclusion for money for the travel for the witnesses. That is a major expense. I think this amount of $1 million is understated. But we already spend $3.2 million and we employ 132 staff people to review U.S. foreign policy.”