Larry Combest

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 169 is a simple bill and would simply add hogs and pork product to the pilot investigation on beef and lamb prices that was authorized last fall as a part of the omnibus appropriation. Many of our colleagues are aware…

I have had a long interest in reforming regulations that do not pass what I call ``The Stupid Test.'' I believe the teen driver regulation is a poster child for failing ``The Stupid Test.'' In 1993, the Department of Labor made a major…

as has been stated, the current conditions and crisis in agriculture is very broad and very wide and very deep. No single action that we can take or that anyone can take alone is going to solve this problem. In fact, many single actions…

there will be several facilitators from the bipartisan Hershey retreat who will be taking the floor today to talk about the positive things that happened from that meeting. Rather than me telling Members what I thought about it, I thought…

just to make certain that there is a complete record, first of all, all of the assurances that the gentleman from Washington has given, I certainly stand behind and support. Congressman Dixon, a member of our committee, is the first Member…

The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Stokes], who in fact at one time was chairman of this committee and was a member of the Iran-Contra Committee, we understand there is a letter on its way to the committee from Mr. Stokes requesting that he be…

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3900 is a short and simple bill to address two problems related to the implementation of the 1996 farm bill, or the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act. This bill has been the subject of many staff discussions…

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3665 is a short bill--it simply transfers the authority to conduct the Census on Agriculture from the Secretary of Commerce to the Secretary of Agriculture and eliminates this authority from the Secretary of Commerce as…

I would certainly concur and say yes, we would intend for this to still be in effect. As the gentlewoman so adequately pointed out, and has been very effective, I think, in leading on this issue, we would certainly expect that this…

again this is basically a technical amendment. The section provides the Director of Central Intelligence the authority to transfer funds authorized for automatic declassification within the national foreign intelligence community to…

Part of that is in the continuing carryforward account. What we required last year in the authorization was that they lower their carryforward account to no more than 1 month. They could not run programs in a carryforward account, they…

Those funds in the carryforward account are obligated and were authorized and appropriated for specific purposes of which the new authorizations that we are looking at now would not include. Those are still going to have to be expended…

No. First of all, there is not an entire $4 billion. Virtually half of that amount was taken out last year.

That was to be brought under scrutiny and they were to begin to manage that account. We then have, in this year's authorization, as I have mentioned, and I would encourage the gentlewoman to look, brought every program that organization…

I will only reiterate the substitute that I will be offering to the Brownback amendment would provide those two caveats, one for the allowance of intelligence sharing, broader authority for allowance of intelligence sharing when it goes to…

Mr. Chairman, the committee is extremely concerned about the accountability because of all those good things that are there that do happen. It is this type of problem that arises that obviously makes, stretches the credibility of many of…

I guess the reward was the fact that there was no punitive action taken. But we have taken $400 million out of the account, more than we had in our authorized bill. We are below some $400 million below the authorization from, $800 million…

I would like to just also mention that in the authorization of last year our committee, and I am sorry in the conference report, which finally became the law, this committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee put a limit of 1-month…

the perfecting amendment to the Dicks amendment would simply indicate that the Secretary of Defense may not obligate or spend any of the funds until the Secretary has submitted to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House…

Mr. Chairman, I want to say initially that I am in total agreement with the gentleman's intent, that I share his concerns and voted for provisions in H.R. 7 of last year that would have substantially improved the process by which…

I support the idea of requiring an agreement to be made. That may not be true of every member of the committee, but I certainly do support that.

My concern would be, for example, we can take the UNPROFOR forces, where the United States is a part of that operation; requiring a prior approval on each case-by-case basis might not be able to be done in a timely fashion. If it is…

this section corrects existing law which currently requires the CIA to make two payments, one of 9 percent, one of 15 percent, for employees who take incentivized retirement from the CIA during fiscal years 1998, 1999. The CIA is required…

I believe this is starting down a slippery slope. I think this is an inside-the-Beltway issue. I do not believe the American people are clamoring to know the intelligence budget. I believe that they understand the need for there to be…

The White House press statement relative to the intelligence community budget of 1996 said, reflecting the President's determination to promote openness in the intelligence community, he has authorized Congress to make it public. Mr…