Frank Pallone: “in June we had a very good bipartisan bill passed out of the Committee on Commerce, but unfortunately the Republican…”

“in June we had a very good bipartisan bill passed out of the Committee on Commerce, but unfortunately the Republican leadership could not leave well enough alone. They had to take it into their back rooms and load it up with political pork. This is the same Republican leadership that claims to be for reform and for cutting unnecessary spending. The House passed the bill on June 25, yet once again the Republican leadership still could not get it right. They delayed and they delayed. It took an astounding 3 weeks for the leadership to appoint conferees. Now, it is August 2 and we have lost $725 million in fiscal year 1996 funds. In my own State alone we have lost nearly $15.5 million in grants funds. On top of that the Republican leadership has earmarked for their vulnerable Members on a political basis $175 million of what is left. Mr. Speaker, this is simply an outrage. They have taken legislation that was supported by the industry and environmentalists, by Democrats and Republicans, by the right and the left, and they have basically made it almost unsupportable at this point. It is a real shame. It is a tragedy. This could have been a bill that everyone would have supported and that we could have used as an example of good legislation that this House could pass this session, and instead we have this bill, loaded up with pork that is practically unsupportable at this time.”