Electoral College and Cut Staff Budget
U.S. House of Representatives Procedural Motions
House Speaker U.S. House Representative Thomas "Tip" O'Neill (D-MA) recognizes Rep. Clarence Brown (R-OH), who wishes to address the House and "revise and extend his remarks." Rep. Brown says the country faces severe economic problems, and it falls upon Congress to solve them quickly. He will list problems in the economy in his extended remarks, yields the balance of his time. Tip O'Neill speaking with middle-aged adult Caucasian women, then is directed by (possibly) Clerk of the House, Edmund Henshaw, to the "gentleman from California" who submits his remarks to the clerks. Speaker O'Neill recognizes Rep. Frank James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI), who asks for revision and extension of remarks for certain House members and specifies allotted time for members to speak. O'Neill recognizes Rep. William Patman (D-TX) for same purpose.
Electoral College, 1981
U.S. Vice-President Walter Mondale and Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill (D-MA) side by side on the Speaker's Platform as Teller and U.S. House Representative Augustus Hawkins (D-CA) reads the electoral votes for the state of Wisconsin "seems to be regular in form and authentic" and that Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush received eleven votes for President and Vice President, respectively. Teller and U.S. Senator Charles Mathias (R-MD) follows the same protocol for the state of Wyoming, whose three electoral votes go to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush for President and Vice President, respectively. House of Representatives rostrum with adult Caucasian male and female clerks seated below appointed tellers; House Reps. William Louis Dickinson (R-AL) and Hawkins, along with Senators Mathias and Wendell Ford (D-KY). Vice-President Mondale stands and announces that with all the states' certificates being opened and read, the tellers will make final ascertainment of the result. Mondale stands and waits, saying, "It doesn't look good." Tellers tallying the totals, passing a few long sheets of paper between them. Rep. Hawkins and Sen. Mathias, together, give the results to Vice-President Mondale.
Electoral College, 1981
U.S. House of Representatives rostrum; adult Caucasian male and female clerks seated below appointed tellers: House Reps. William Louis Dickinson (R-AL) and Augustus Hawkins (D-CA), along with Senators Charles Mathias (R-MD) and Wendell Ford (D-KY). U.S. Vice-President Walter Mondale and Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill (D-MA) together on Speaker's Platform. Vice President Mondale banging the gavel, announces the final electoral vote totals for President and Vice President of the United States; interrupted only by applause and standing ovation for Mondale. Vice-President Mondale announces the results are sufficient for an official declaration of President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush for the term beginning on the 20th of January, 1981. Mondale bangs gavel and dissolves the joint session. Mondale and O'Neill shaking hands; adult Caucasian Congressmen stand and slowly file out.
Cut Congressional Committee Budgets
Speaker of the House, U.S. House Representative Thomas "Tip" O'Neill (D-MA) recognizes Rep. James Collins (R-TX) for 60 minutes. Rep. Collins begins remarks on Cutting Staff Budget with the problem of inflation hurting many Americans, who attribute the problem to Congress, believing it simply spends too much money. Americans are looking for government to reduce spending, and Congress will have to go through agencies to find ways to reduce budgets. Collins believes Congress should set an example by looking inward to cut unnecessary positions and spending within staff. He references data gathered from 1972-1979, when the nation's spending doubled, and Congressional committees continually expanded, more than doubling. Rep. Collins clarifies his reference to investigative staff, not the basic, or statutory staff. Expenditures went from $14 million to $96 million.
Cut Congressional Committee Budgets
U.S. House Representative James Collins (R-TX) continues speaking on House floor on the need to cut Congressional staffing as means to reduce House Budget. To justify expenditures of $96 million, there are regular committee hearings, too much regulatory processes, and unnecessary amendments, which leads to government largess with over-regulation and over-taxation. Collins proposes cutting committee staff "right down to the bone." He advocates for voting against current committee appropriations, using a unified Republican bloc, noting how past votes to fund committees have already seen more "no" votes. Collins states that 90% of committee budgets go to salaries of temporary employees. He uses his own committee, Commerce, to note the high pay scales, and begins listing other committees, the high salaries that go out to staffers in both senior and junior positions.
Cut Congressional Committee Budgets
U.S. House Representative James Collins (R-TX) continues speaking on House floor on the need to cut Congressional staffing as means to reduce House Budget. Rep. Collins believes travel expenses need to be reviewed as well as duplicated services such as two computer services that perform the same task. $10 million that can be cut is Congress spending their own money. Collins notes Agriculture Committee's expenses increased from $250,000 a year to $2,272,000 within a span of 7 years. Collins cites House Administration Committee for increasing yearly expenditures from $617,000 to $22,699,000 in the same time span. Merchant Marine Committee had yearly expenditures increase from $519,000 to $3,176,000. The Ways and Means Committee had yearly expenditures increase from $75,000 to $4,252,000.