Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, many Members will remember that last year, those of us who are interested in this particular issue and I, notwithstanding some tremendous reservation that I had, supported and voted for and spoke on behalf of the amendment to increase last year's budget for Legal Services. I did so even though I knew there was a cloud, a gigantic cloud, over the Legal Services arena by reason of rumor and factual information based on rumor and then facts, rumors and all of that put together in statistical reports that there was a tremendous overreporting of cases rampant throughout the system. I did so, and I stated, I am going to give the Legal Services the benefit of the doubt. I am going to vote for the increase in the funding notwithstanding these doubts, because if an increase is based, as all the time we see on the floor it is based when we are asking for increases on increased workload, then it is not justified at all. But I was still willing to give the Legal Services the benefit of the doubt and voted in support of that increase. Then my committee, which has jurisdiction over this subject matter, conducted hearings. We found indeed that that overreporting, which was only rumor, that overreporting which people scoffed at as being clerical error, was indeed the fact and that we had to deal with it.”