Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I want to thank my friend for his amendment. I wish I could support it, quite frankly, because I very much support Healthy Start and very much appreciate his support for that program. As the gentleman knows, again, our subcommittee received an allocation below last year's level. As a result, we did not have the ability to increase funding for some programs, this one included. The gentleman's amendment offsets the increase with a reduction in the resources for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out his responsibilities. A reduction of this size would hinder the Secretary's ability to administer the program effectively. For this reason, I oppose the amendment. I want to assure my friend, as we work our way through this process, I am going to try and work with him to see if we can find a way to actually increase those funds, but at this point, we simply don't have them available. For that reason, Mr. Chairman, I oppose the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.”