Wayne Allard: “I was not elected to this body--I do not think the Senator from Iowa was either--to make easy votes. This can be a…”

“I was not elected to this body--I do not think the Senator from Iowa was either--to make easy votes. This can be a difficult vote. There are programs on there that I support, I support wholeheartedly, but I want them to be effective. How can I go back to my taxpayers in the State of Colorado and say: Well, we are spending billions of dollars on this program, but it is ineffective. It is not measuring up to the standards which most businesses would be expected to measure up to for performance, or maybe other agencies are going to measure up to for performance. I do not know how else to get the attention of the bureaucracy except to deal with them where they pay attention. That is their pocketbooks, their budget. I think when we have an ineffective program, we are not doing our jobs as Senators if we do not figure out a way to bring accountability to the program. Now, this is a modest attempt to try to bring some accountability. We do not eliminate any programs. We do a reduction on a few programs that are listed as 'ineffective.'”