Paul Tonko: “I thank the gentlelady for yielding. And absolutely, those benefits have been exhausted, and I think that needs to be…”

“I thank the gentlelady for yielding. And absolutely, those benefits have been exhausted, and I think that needs to be very clear here. Mr. Speaker, while this budget compromise is not perfect, I would like to highlight a provision that will reduce our deficit. Since 2011, I have fought to change a little-known statutory formula for capping the maximum reimbursement for Federal contractor executives and employees. Due to a flaw in this formula, taxpayer-funded salaries have spiraled out of control in recent years. Just this month, OMB announced that it was required to raise the cap to over $950,000 per year--$950,000--while we debate our ability to afford essential services for our most vulnerable citizens, for extending unemployment insurance. We are paying private sector executives nearly million-dollar salaries. This agreement sets the cap at $487,000. Personally, I would have preferred the cap to be set at $230,700--the Vice President's salary--as it is stated in my legislation, but this is an important step and sensible compromise to restoring sanity to taxpayer-funded salaries. Just a sampling, GAO, within the Department of Defense, found just 7 percent of their contracts when reduced to this level would save hundreds of millions of dollars. I again thank the gentlelady for yielding. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Georgia has 4\1/2\ minutes remaining. The gentlewoman from New York has 10 minutes remaining.”