Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I understand the desire of the proponent of the amendment to constrain the expenses in the budget, and I sympathize with that. But here we are in a multiyear authorization and we are talking about how many base closures there will be by the next and the following year. Nobody really knows. How many natural disasters will there be over the next 3 years? Nobody really knows. I would suggest that the authority that has been granted to use such other sums is absolutely essential so that if a natural disaster occurs or an emergency occurs, there does not have to be a hesitancy. When the gentleman talks about additional appropriations, those are appropriations; those are not authorizations. We are asking for the authority here for authorization for appropriated money when it is made to be exercised or spent in a certain fashion. So we no longer have the Committee on Appropriations of the House controlling areas like the Economic Development Administration but, in fact, we have had the good foresight to authorize what we want to do and direct that being done. I would call my colleagues' attention to an example, however, to show just how distinctly different this year's authorization is from past authorizations.”