Amory Houghton: “The issues are serious, and the issues are dealing with numbers that are very high in one area to some members, very low…”

“The issues are serious, and the issues are dealing with numbers that are very high in one area to some members, very low with another group of Members, also with the President, but some of the issues as I mentioned are not even related to appropriations. The gentleman will recall we had the argument over the ergonomics issue, and then we had quite an argument over the question of granting blanket amnesty to those who are here in the United States illegally. Those are two big issues that are not appropriations issues, but are being considered using the appropriations bill as a vehicle for their enactment. So things like that are causing us problems. Can we get together? I do not see why we cannot get together. What needs to happen is everybody needs to realize that no one is going to get their way exactly the way they wanted it. I am chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, but I cannot get my way all the time, and chairmen of our subcommittees cannot get their way all the time, but what we all have to recognize is there has to be a consensus. We are almost evenly divided in this House and in the other body, so it is time to recognize each side has to give a little. If you want to get something, you have to give something, and that is what it is going to take to conclude our business.”