David Durenberger: “I understand that the amendment by our colleague from Florida is acceptable to Members on the minority side. I will just…”

“I understand that the amendment by our colleague from Florida is acceptable to Members on the minority side. I will just make a realistic comment, which I hate to do. But we were just talking a little bit ago about, are there any States that do not take the money. And we found out that, yes, some do not. In fact, one of our States does not take it at all. The States find that, given the way some things work, they are better off meeting their own needs in their own ways, and assessing their own needs, and determining the best way to do it. The Federal needs assessment system is set up, and has been set up, on an every-4-year basis, so that in meeting the needs of the Nation, we can find ways to balance specific interests. The reality is, however, that the lag time between the time a need is determined and decisions are made, and when the money actually gets invested, can be as long as 15 to 20 years. I think 2 percent of the money goes out the first year, and 6 percent goes out the second year. So I guess, by our support of this amendment, I would not want anybody to think we are going to meet the needs of Florida, California, Minnesota, or Montana twice as fast, because we will not. We are going to spend more money to do this every 2 years rather than every 4 years. But I am not sure that anybody should interpret the impact of this amendment as a more effective use of the moneys which have been allocated.”