Ernest Istook: “It is pretty simple for most people to weigh the good against the bad. We have a bill that has a balanced budget…”

“It is pretty simple for most people to weigh the good against the bad. We have a bill that has a balanced budget, reducing the size of D.C. government, streamlining it, helping it be more efficient and effective. There is scholarship money for kids to go to college. Charter schools are strengthened so they are not trapped in dead-end schools. It has the Nation's best new program to fight the link between crime and drugs. We have in this bill opportunity; we have cleanup of the Anacostia River. We have all of these good, strong, solid things. What is on the other side of the scales? Well, it does not let the District of Columbia legalize marijuana, and it does not let them use public money for a lawsuit that is already filed and being paid by private individuals. Therefore, they say, that outweighs everything else in this bill. How extreme. How extreme. And for people to say they will reverse their support, 160 Democrats going to reverse their support because they have surrendered their vote to an extreme position, following the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia; that they have surrendered their vote. What will their constituents think? That outweighs all the good in this bill. To legalize drugs? No. Vote for the conference report.”