Political Quotes

“2 years ago my friend the Republican leader and I expressed our intention that the funding allocation adopted for the 112th Congress would serve for that and future Congresses. Over the prior 20 years, the apportionment of committee funding had gone from a straight two-thirds for majority and one-third for minority during the 1990s, regardless of the size of the majority and minority, to biannual negotiations during the following decade. The new funding allocation for Senate committees was based on the party division of the Senate, with 10 percent of the total majority and minority salary baseline going to the majority for administrative expenses. However, regardless of the party division of the Senate, the minority share of the majority and minority salary baseline will never be less than 40 percent, and the majority share will never exceed 60 percent. This approach met our needs for the last Congress, and I would like to see it continue. Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I, too, would like to continue this approach for the 113th and future Congresses. It serves the interest of the Senate and the public by helping to retain core committee staff with institutional knowledge, regardless of which party is in the majority. We made a transition in the last Congress to restore special reserves to its historic purpose, but appropriations cuts prevented special reserves from being funded.…”