Political Quotes

“one of the things I say to my two colleagues, the chairman and the ranking member, is, if the other body is looking for additional sources of money, I think they should take a closer look at their franking practices. I am the last person to tell the other body what to do with franking, even though in the past, when I was chairman of the Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee, we had some real battles dealing with franking. We cut our Senate franking practices tremendously. In fact, we now hear complaints that we do not have enough money to mail to our constituents. We have really tightened our belts, especially with mass mailings. But, let's talk about the other body. In 1994, as part of a bipartisan effort that was initiated by Senator Mack and myself, our subcommittee successfully instituted sweeping reforms regarding franking privileges in the Senate. In fact, we cut overall mail costs by 50 percent between 1994 and 1995. As part of the same initiative, the House, in 1995, combined its mail, staff, and office expense accounts, and instituted an expenditure limit on mail based upon an allowance fund. However, Mr. President, that was changed. In 1999, according to the Congressional Research Service, the House, unfortunately, eliminated any expenditure limit on franking privileges. So if the House is looking for some ways to get some money, they can always use some of the money they reapplied to franking just last year.”