Alan Simpson: “I thank the gentleman for offering his amendment. We had to make some tough decisions with this bill. Some of them were…”

“I thank the gentleman for offering his amendment. We had to make some tough decisions with this bill. Some of them were with the money that we spent in the Geographic Programs. I believe every geographic program had reduced funding in this bill. Last year, they were funded at $300 million. I think the President requested $350 million for the Great Lakes geographic program, and we funded it at $250 million. While I appreciate what the gentleman is trying to do with his amendment--and I thank him for offering it--the fact is we just don't have that kind of money. The offset of this is $24 million out of the Secretary's account, and we earlier took $20 million out of it. I don't believe the Secretary is sleeping very well tonight. {time} 2250 Pretty soon he won't have any money left in his office, as a matter of fact. So that is a problem. It's not what the gentleman is trying to do. I fully support what the gentleman is trying to do. It's the offset and trying to get the $20 million out of the Secretary's account which causes the problem for me. And I would hope that my colleagues would reject this amendment as we work on trying to make sure that we, in conference, can do what's necessary to fund those programs that do protect the Great Lakes, the Puget Sound, the Chesapeake Bay, Long Island Sound, San Francisco Bay, some of the other great water bodies in this country. I appreciate the gentleman's amendment, but I have to rise in opposition to it.…”