Barney Frank: “I am always glad to be present at the annual exhibit of inconsistency on the Republican side. When we talk about this…”

“I am always glad to be present at the annual exhibit of inconsistency on the Republican side. When we talk about this bill, first of all, they denounce us for claiming that additional funding is important in showing we support programs. They then go on to brag about how much additional funding they have provided for the programs. I must say I sometimes do agree that simply throwing money at problems is not necessarily a good idea. I just wish I was not one of the only few Members who thought that yesterday when we did $400 billion in about 3 minutes for the Defense Department, not all of which is exquisitely well spent. Here, as I said, they brag about how much they spend and then try to denigrate spending as a measure. Dollars are not some totem. They are a measure of resources, and the dollars we make available are the resources we are making available. As was pointed out previously, it is the Bush administration that is disappointed in many aspects of this bill, and I am quoting them directly. I am reading the statement of administration policy. There is six disappointeds, eight underfundeds and a lot of other negative words, but here is the one that I think most impressive to those advertisers of compassion on the other side. The committee reduced the administration's request for the Social Security Administration by $168 million. Without these resources, SSA may not be able to reverse the steady increase in the backlog of disability claims.”