Frank Lautenberg: “That account has been severly tested. We will look closely to see if we can put together the package that the Senator…”

“That account has been severly tested. We will look closely to see if we can put together the package that the Senator from Ohio is recommending. I do send up a note of caution as we look at it. We have been warned that we could face a RIF, reduction in force, at DOT at the levels currently in the bill for administrative expenses. The chairman and I have been very careful to try to make sure that the dollars we expend are those that are most effective in providing transportation facilities, helping the Coast Guard, helping FAA, and we have been all along trying to reduce the administrative side, the travel side, all of those things. We are both staunch supporters of the Coast Guard with our coastal States and in deep appreciation for what the Coast Guard has done. The drug interdiction mission I talked about earlier today, and I am prepared on this side to accept the DeWine-Graham amendment, but I have to know that the chairman and I are going to take a fresh look at DOT's administrative costs in conference.”