Political Quotes

“There are, however, a handful of issues in the conference agreement that I know are of great interest to all Senators. I will spend a little time discussing two of these issues: Land acquisition and the National Endowment for the Arts. The budget agreement provided the Appropriations Committees with the option to appropriate $700 million for ``priority land acquisitions and land exchanges,'' with the appropriation being in addition to the subcommittee's 602(b) allocation. This reserve fund was requested by the administration in budget talks, in large part because of the administration's desire to finance two major land purchases that it negotiated shortly before the Presidential election: The Headwaters Forest in California and the New World Mine in Montana. The administration originally had proposed to conduct these acquisitions administratively, exchanging oil and gas properties and revenue streams in ways that stretched existing exchange authorities to the limit, if not beyond. I and many others strongly objected to the proposed acquisitions at the time, in part because it was clear that the administration was trying to evade the requirements of the Budget Act and bypass Congress altogether on two major expenditures. In that sense, I am glad that the budget agreement provided an opportunity for these acquisitions to come before Congress, albeit not under ideal conditions. The House Appropriations Committee chose not to provide the $700 million.”