Vernon Ehlers: “First of all, it will establish funding for all committees, other than the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight…”

“First of all, it will establish funding for all committees, other than the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, until May 2, 1997. This interim funding is to permit the committees to operate during the next month while we resolve some of the questions which were raised yesterday. Furthermore, it establishes for the entire 2-year cycle the funding for the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight at a 2-year funding level of $20 million, including $3.8 million for investigative purposes in 1997 alone. Furthermore, it authorizes a reserve fund of $7.9 million for the entire 105th Congress. I also have to respond to the characterization of the gentleman from Massachusetts that this is a slush fund. I am from Michigan. I know what slush is. It is dirty, it is messy and it gets splashed all over. That may accurately characterize the way the Members on the other side of the aisle handled the money under the jurisdiction of the Committee on House Administration during their tenure, but this reserve fund is not a slush fund. This is going to be a tightly controlled reserve fund.”