Hal Rogers: “in this bill we double the amount of money that is in the 2005. We double it, $40 million more than they had in 2005…”

“in this bill we double the amount of money that is in the 2005. We double it, $40 million more than they had in 2005, and it is 50 percent more than what the President requested. I mean we are shoveling money at this office. To shovel more money at them would be, I think, wasteful, to say the very least. Number two, this proposal would cut the Office of the Secretary. We are already doing a lot of that in this bill, and to cut them any more I think would be counterproductive. That Office of the Secretary is $133 million plus. This cut would result in a 15 percent reduction from that figure. The office is largely salaries and expenses, and cuts will result in fewer people attempting to meet an increasing workload. Fewer people means the Department will take even more time to respond to our Congressional inquiries. We have been critical of that office, but it is this office that will ultimately make the changes needed to make this Department work. They are working on the new Secretary's second-stage review even as we speak. It is only now that the office has been fully staffed up. Any cuts would directly affect these positions. In 2006 we recommended about 90 new positions to address critical needs in the Secretary's Office. These cuts that the gentlewoman proposes would result in reductions in security personnel responsible for classified material.…”