Political Quotes

“last year we completed debate on the foreign operations bill in record time. This year the bill contains $250 million less than last year, so I hope it will take even less time. The bill represents a delicate compromise. As I said, we have a lot less money this year, and since almost half the funds in this bill is earmarked for the Middle East, the quarter-billion-dollar cut from last year has to come out of other programs. That is a very significant cut. It is over $1 billion below the President's request. A quarter of a billion dollars may not be a lot in some budgets, like the defense budget, but it is a great deal when it means cuts in funding for diplomacy and programs to--and I will give you examples of the areas we are cutting--support for U.S. exports, or to promote economic reforms in the former Soviet Union and democracy in Indonesia, or to aid refugees in Bosnia and support business exchange programs in Eastern Europe, or money to combat the spread of illegal drugs and infectious diseases. Infectious diseases--Mr. President, I remind everybody that the most virulent disease in the world is only an airplane trip away from any one of our homes in the United States. And, of course, money to protect the environment. These are but a few examples of what is in this bill and what we have had to cut because of this year's low budget allocation.”