Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I will end by saying I really hope we can put aside the 57 percent, or the 60 percent, even though I think there is…”

“I will end by saying I really hope we can put aside the 57 percent, or the 60 percent, even though I think there is certainly the argument for precedent whenever there has been a clear majority at the beginning of a term to have a two-thirds/one-third split. In fact, I was told that in the really old days, the majority got 100 percent of the allocation of committee funds, and it was only to give the minority some ability to hire staff that it went from 100 percent to two-thirds/one-third. That has been the precedent ever since when there has been a clear majority at the beginning of a Congress. I think it is also a fact when the change was made, it was then said there would be a hold-harmless from the change in staff allocations so that we actually added budget to allow all the staff to stay on from both parties. So I think now that we are at the beginning of a Congress, you can argue we have to have certain levels of funding on the majority side for the administrative functions of a committee.”