Steny Hoyer: “What I think most of us feel on the Committee on Appropriations is our Republican colleagues on the Committee on…”

“What I think most of us feel on the Committee on Appropriations is our Republican colleagues on the Committee on Appropriations want positive investment in our country. They are not the problem, but the leadership of the Republican Party is the problem. Frankly, the chairman of the Committee on the Budget this year and in past years is the problem. Now, let me tell my friend, the gentleman from Ohio, about education. The irony is that my friend, the gentleman from Ohio, would stand and say, look what we have done since 1995 on education. What we have done on education is, under the leadership of Bill Clinton, he said, I am not going to sign bills that underfund education. What were those bills? Let me read them to the Members so in the future the Members will know, because I know if the gentleman knew this, he probably would not have made this representation. The Republican bill offered to this House in 1996 was $5 billion under the President's request. That did not end up that way. In 1997, the Republican bill offered $2.8 billion under the President.”