Chris Smith: “Mr. Speaker, in 1995 I traveled to Beijing, where I cochaired the Congressional delegation, along with my good friend…”

“Mr. Speaker, in 1995 I traveled to Beijing, where I cochaired the Congressional delegation, along with my good friend and colleague the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) to the Fourth World Conference on Women. I had many reactions to the conference, but one of the most vivid impressions was how difficult it was to get straight answers to some of the most basic questions, such as who was running the conference and who was paying for it. One of the very hardest things to find out was the exact cost to the American taxpayer. At the time of the Beijing conference itself, we knew only that the State Department's total annual budget for international conferences that year was $6 million, and most of the amount was budgeted for smaller and less extravagant international meetings. So our participation in Beijing should have cost perhaps $1 million, certainly no more. Yet the facts on the ground were very different. It took five months and a GAO report to Congress to learn the true extent of U.S. costs on the Beijing conference. It turned out to be $5.9 million, spread out among the budgets of 13 different Federal agencies and the White House.”