Andy Barr: “I think focusing on that really misses the mark to some extent, that those funds will continue that have already been…”

“I think focusing on that really misses the mark to some extent, that those funds will continue that have already been appropriated, for example, those under the cops program and under the prevention programs under the bill last year. So raising the specter of all of these programs all of a sudden being defunded, I think, is somewhat of a red herring. Also, Mr. Chairman, I am reminded of something that occurred during the campaign last year in my district down in Georgia just a few days before the fall election. We had received word that one of our county governments had been approved for a grant under the 1994 just-then-passed crime bill, and the county officials came to me somewhat mystified because they had not applied for any money under that 1994 bill. What had happened is, they had applied for some money, Mr. Chairman, under a previous program and insofar as the Clinton administration wished to move forward, for whatever reason, not impugning their motives as political at all, they had wished to move forward under the new 1994 bill, they had on their own considered the previous grant application under the 1994 bill and passed it.”