Frank Lautenberg: “last month, and again last week, the Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee released two reports criticizing…”

“last month, and again last week, the Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee released two reports criticizing what they wrongly described as the economic plan proposed by Vice President Gore and our distinguished colleague, Senator Lieberman. I wanted to come to the floor to discuss these reports, which I believe were inappropriate, and a misuse of taxpayer dollars. They also were grossly inaccurate and unfair. Let me read from a section of the Senate Ethics Manual. Campaign Use of Official Resources Official resources may only be used for official purposes. It is thus inappropriate to use any official resources to conduct campaign or political activities. Mr. President, as we all know, and the Senate Ethics Manual makes clear, it is inappropriate to use any official resources to conduct campaign or political activities. Of course, it can be difficult to draw a clear line between official Senate business and campaign activities. And reasonable people can disagree about many of the documents that are produced routinely here in the Congress. But, having said that, the reports issued by the Budget Committee staff, in my view, go well over the line. These reports are focused entirely on Al Gore's campaign proposals, or at least the staff's erroneous interpretation of those proposals. And their obvious purpose is not to provide an objective analysis, but to attack the Vice President. These staff reports aren't just biased, they're pure propaganda.…”