Haley Stevens: “fear is a terrible quotient in the political spectrum. And the fear that an across-the-board cut might reduce the level…”

“fear is a terrible quotient in the political spectrum. And the fear that an across-the-board cut might reduce the level of spending today, spending under the 2002 appropriations level, is a great one. But I can state to the Senate without equivocation, not one FBI agent will be cut, not one will be lost. We have an increase, again, of nearly $500 million in the overall FBI level--rounded off a little bit. We have another increase of $158 million for the Joint Terrorism Task Force. An across-the-board cut to those two increases, $436.5 million for the FBI and $158.5 for the Joint Terrorism Task Force, is about $80 million. That still represents an increase for those two programs. An across-the-board cut would not reduce the FBI at all--there would be no reduction. The Department of Justice would still receive an increase of well over a billion dollars after the across-the-board cut. I have respect for my friend with regard to facing the problem of an across-the-board cut. It is an indiscriminate cut and that is why I don't like it.”