Robert Smith: “Mr, Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I have the utmost and greatest respect for my…”

“Mr, Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I have the utmost and greatest respect for my friend from New York. But I must, Mr. Speaker, correct the issue here because without question this is an unfunded mandate, and we are asking our colleagues to recognize what kind of an unfunded mandate this truly is. Certainly not in the minds of those who passed the unfunded mandate law, but indeed by decision, this is an unfunded mandate. How did it occur? These are funds, Mr. Speaker, that were allocated to the States as a cushion should the welfare rolls go up and we have a huge downturn in the economy. They are funds that we do not anticipate being used, certainly in the near future, maybe not ever, so they are funds residing within each of the States that may never be used. That is because of the action of this Congress in reducing the welfare rolls by requiring people to work and by reducing the need for food stamps. So if these funds were not used in the manner in which we have provided to our colleagues in the conference committee report, they would be used for some other purpose, maybe for highways, maybe for other purposes. Certainly there is a great demand for the use of these funds. This in no way is an increase in property taxes, this is in no way an increase in senior citizens' costs, in no way. Mr.…”