Political Quotes

“Reclaiming my time, when the chief financial officer says we have this account established that has over $700 million in it, only 2 percent of which, only $12 million, is in that account based on why that account was set up, meaning roughly $700 million found its way into this account through some other reason, when we combine that with the fact that that is 1996; that 1998's books are not auditable, we have just asked some, I think, very legitimate questions. How much is in the account today? And the estimate was, well, this account today has in it somewhere around $189 to $200 million. So as of today, or at least as of Friday there was still $200 million in that account. We have asked the General Accounting Office to go to the Department of Education and ask some very basic questions, which I think we as Members of Congress, representing the American people, are entitled to some answers. We have asked as colleagues, and as the chairman of the oversight subcommittee, I want to know where that original $700 million came from. Under the anti-deficiency act, no Federal agency is entitled to carry dollars over from year to year to year. I want to know where the decision was made that these dollars, $700 million, did not fall under the Anti-Deficiency Act, and that they should have been returned to the Treasury at the end of every fiscal year, where did the Department get the authorization to keep that money at the Department of Education?”