Harry Reid: “let me say this. Ambassador Negroponte came to the Senate the last time this past May. Did he talk anything about what…”

“let me say this. Ambassador Negroponte came to the Senate the last time this past May. Did he talk anything about what was going on with intelligence in Iraq or what was going on in Iraq, period? No. He talked about international terrorism. It is not as if we have been bothering the Ambassador having him come here all the time. But I am disappointed to have to report to the American people this is what is going on with this administration: You never get to what the issue is. Put it off. Do not talk about it. Stay the course. In Iraq we have some problems: almost 2,000 dead Americans; 15,000, 16,000 wounded, many of them very badly. I in no way say this to disparage the managers of this bill, one of whom is a winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Senator Dan Inouye; the other served valiantly in World War II as a pilot. But their job would be much easier if they had a Defense authorization bill prior to coming here to this floor with an appropriations bill. It makes their job, if not impossible, extremely difficult. Let me explain what I am talking about. You authorize funding in the Congress, and then it goes to the all-important Appropriations Committee, and they determine what of the authorization bill deserves money. That is basically what it amounts to. There has to be some limit to spending, and that is what the Appropriation Committee's job is; to determine whether the money should be spent. Well, here there is no authorization bill.…”