Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to research that for the gentleman. There may be some. Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I reclaim my time. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would research that. He can't name one. Mr. Speaker, we are taking this money. It is a sales tax. The American people are paying it. It is like some of you live in sales tax States. I don't live in a sales tax State, but my people are still paying this sales tax on imported goods, and they expect the money, as Ronald Reagan signed that bill, to be spent on maintaining our harbors. And I can list the needs in my harbors that aren't being met today because the Corps of Engineers are underfunded. But we are hearing, ``We can't do this.'' And the other argument here is: This busts the caps and it breaks the agreement. No. All of this money which has been taken from the American people and deposited in the Treasury is subject to appropriation. So it gives discretion to the appropriators to determine whether or not we will finally honor our compact with the American people and spend the harbor maintenance tax on harbor maintenance, not on illusory deficit reduction. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.”