Date: 2011-06-21
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this legislation. You know. Mr. Speaker. my mom was born and raised in Chicago. Illinois. and listening to her stories about what transpired in the political process when she was growing up there. I used to think that the only place that you could find immortality in this world was on the voting rolls of Cook County. But I find here today that Ronald Reagan was right: Immortality is in the name of a Federal Government program. This was supposed to be a temporary program. It was supposed to give temporary assistance to the States to make sure they could comply with HAVA. and it has done that. It has done that. It has let out all the money. billions of dollar that go to the States to assist in doing that. Its time has come and gone. Mr. Speaker. if we cannot see that in these very difficult budget times we have to make some difficult decisions with respect to looking at programs to see if theyve exhausted their usefulness. then well never be able to respond appropriately to what our constituents expect of us. Mr. Speaker. this legislation. carefully drafted. allows for those small elements of this agency to be transferred to the FEC with funds to carry out those responsibilities. The argument that the gentleman has just made. that somehow the FEC is not up to snuff. is not an argument I would think that the gentleman would support to somehow get rid of the FEC. We are giving them some responsibilities with funds. and hopefully they can carry those out. The idea that we can stand here with a straight face and argue that an agency which spends over 50 percent of its total funding on overheadand be able to say that to the American people is not only disappointing. but its dispiriting. because it suggests to the American people that we are incapable of looking carefully at agencies and departments to see when. in fact. they are doing a job that continues and needs to be done. or when they have finished their function and. therefore. no longer need to exist. Now. the Secretaries of State have spoken rather forcefully before our committee with respect to the fact that they no longer need the assistance of this particular arm of the Federal Government. How often do we have people who come to us and say. We dont need this assistance anymore? Not very often. Should we ignore that in this particular case? Admittedly. this is a small amount of money. Its only in the millions. Where I come from. thats important. Millions mean a lot. This is more important. though. as a symbol or a signal as to what we will do. Look. if we had all the money in the world. maybe we wouldnt have this on the floor. We dont have all the money in the world. although weve tried to prove that we can print all the money in the world. The fact of the matter is folks back home want us somehow to get our house in order. Thats the House of Representatives. and its the house that we call the United States Federal Government. This may be a small room in that house. but. nonetheless. it is one that needs to be addressed. The gentleman from Mississippi has done an excellent job of holding hearings on this matter. hearing from all parties on this. and has come up with this legislation. The suggestion that somehow by disestablishing the EAC we are going to penalize the military is something that I cannot understand very well at all. The Federal Voting Assistance Program under the DOD will continue to implement the MOVE Act. as they have very ably done since the passage of this bill in the last Congress. If you really examine it. the EAC has a very small role in the process. and that role will be continued after the EAC has been shut down. States are looking at us to see whether we can give them some relief. and. in most cases. we are not going to be able to give the States some relief because. frankly. we dont have the money. Businesses are looking at us. those who are in businesses. to see if we will understand the mistakes weve made in the past and do what they have to do. that is. to try to become more effective and more efficient. Our constituents are looking at us as they look for some glimmer that we understand the terrible fiscal situation we find ourselves in. And theyre looking for just the littlest. the smallest suggestion that we are going to be serious about the fiscal mess that we find ourselves in. This is a small start. but it is a start. And again. as the gentleman from Mississippi said. if we cant do this now. when can we do it? When you have a demonstrable record of an agency thats outlived its usefulness. you have to act. Thats all were attempting to do. I would hope that we would have a near unanimous vote in support of the gentlemans bill.