James T. Callahan: “I wanted to respond to the gentlewoman from California. We seldom disagree. Many times we disagree on issues which is…”

“I wanted to respond to the gentlewoman from California. We seldom disagree. Many times we disagree on issues which is what this body is all about. But let me just give you a brief history of where we are on this. First of all, it was because of my request to this House under a unanimous consent, that the gentleman from Oklahoma [Mr. Coburn] was unable to present his amendment, even though he had filed it in a timely manner. If the amendment had been allowed to come to the floor, very obviously the House would have voted the same way they voted on the foreign relations bill, and indeed there would have been a prohibition in this bill. My response to the gentleman from Oklahoma [Mr. Coburn] in our colloquy was simply, he asked, was there any money designated in this bill for the Man and the Biosphere Program. And the answer is, no, there is nothing in here. If there is any authorization in here for transfer, no, there is no authorization for transfer. So I think that the gentleman from Oklahoma [Mr. Coburn] and I represent a majority of the views of this House that it is not the will of the U.S. Congress to spend money on this program. In my colloquy, that is what I said. I simply said that based upon the vote on June 11, I have to answer no. It is not the direction of this House to spend money on this program.”