Russ Feingold: “I believe that is important to pursue matters legislatively when there is unusual agreement on both sides of the aisle.…”

“I believe that is important to pursue matters legislatively when there is unusual agreement on both sides of the aisle. And in this case there is that agreement between many of us on both sides of the aisle that this program needs to be reevaluated. I want to add a little bit to what the Senator from New Hampshire has said. My colleague from New Hampshire and I are moving to table the committee amendment which would strike language that passed the House as an amendment to the VA-HUD appropriations bill on June 26, 1996 by a vote of 244 to 171. The amendment was sponsored by Representatives Roemer and Ganske. The Senate Appropriations Committee, in preparing the VA-HUD bill for the floor, has recommended that this language be struck from the bill. The language would explicitly prohibit the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA] from expending any funds on the Bion 11 and Bion 12 missions. I believe that the committee's amendment to strike this language should not prevail.”