Political Quotes

“I am privileged to be the chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the full Committee on Environment and Public Works. I have been involved in the Patent and Trademark Office space consolidation for the past 4 years. However, this has had a much longer history of review. In August of 1995, GSA, the Department of Commerce, and the PTO negotiated with OMB on alternatives for proceeding to consolidation and the placement of the PTO's expiring leases scheduled for 1996. The administration determined that there were insufficient funds available in the President's budget for the foreseeable future to pursue these alternatives of direct Federal construction or an equity lease. Let me repeat, Mr. President: That history has shown that often construction is less expensive than the option of leasing. There is no mystery here. The problem is, we do not have $250 million to construct such a building. Budget constraints dictate a lease in this instance.”