William Helms: “there he goes again. He said, ``Cut 50 people. Cut 50 people.'' No way. The Secretary has not eliminated one person. He…”

“there he goes again. He said, ``Cut 50 people. Cut 50 people.'' No way. The Secretary has not eliminated one person. He has eliminated 50 titles. I ask--if the State Department gives a different report now than the report they gave to us, I want to check up on that, too. I remind my colleague, in committee I proposed eliminating all congressionally imposed assistant secretaries, and allow the Secretary of State to reorganize as he wished, using fewer people. The majority of members of the committee rejected that amendment and mandated--I am sure it was at least five assistant secretaries. It may be more than that, but it was at least five. Now, who is micromanaging? Not this amendment. Not the Senator from North Carolina. I wonder if the chairman seriously wishes to repeal the requirements to have statutorily created Assistant Secretary positions. Chairman Pell and the manager of the bill on the other side refused to give the Secretary authority to organize without mandated offices. Micromanagement is what the other side did. They are pointing fingers-- and saying ``micro<gr-thn-eq>manage<gr-thn-eq>ment''--at me. No way. I just want to cut the cost of operating the State Department. That always raises the hackles of some people in the Senate.”