On the recordMay 25, 2016
I appreciate the gentleman's arguments. It sounds like we are back at the Constitutional Convention: Should we have the legislative branch of government be represented by the population, or should it be represented by the States? I know. Let's compromise. Let's have two bodies, one that represents the States with an equal number from each State, and one that represents the population. We will call one the House of Representatives, and we will call one the Senate. That is how it works out. We are one Nation, and we try to make sure that funds go to all States. Some of them have a disadvantage just by the sheer size. And if you look at Idaho, we are the 12th largest State, and, I suspect, populationwise, we are down there substantially. Montana is probably even worse off than we are. So it is almost impossible for the universities and so forth to compete with some of the larger States. So we can argue about whether the formulas are correct or absolutely correct or if they shouldn't be modified or anything else like that, and I am more than willing to do that, but to eliminate the program I think is just an entire mistake. I would urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Foster). The question was taken; and the Acting Chair announced that the noes appeared to have it.
