Stephanie Tubbs Jones: “I am reminded of one of the hearings in the Ways and Means Committee where then-Secretary Snow was before the committee.…”

“I am reminded of one of the hearings in the Ways and Means Committee where then-Secretary Snow was before the committee. This was before we actually got into the Iraq war. I said, Mr. Secretary, you used to run a business. Tell me what trustees or board of directors of any business would say to you that you can have a supplemental outside of the budget that would increase significantly the deficit, and you don't have to include it in the amount of dollars we are expending? He said to me that the President doesn't want to go to war, so it is not part of the budget. I said, wait a minute. I know that there are tankers over there, there are men and women over there, there are arms over there, and we are spending dollars to feed and clothe them. That ought to be part of the budget. The American people should know what kind of money we are spending and not have it off side. That is what this administration has been so good at in all of these supplementals. Many of us vote for the supplementals because we want to support the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it is bad budgeting. I know if Secretary Snow ran his business like he ran the government, and he is gone now, but he would be put out of business if he ran a business like this.”