Arthur took a step closer, reached out, and picked up the budget sheet slammed on the table to take a look: "Finance is, of course, still under the jurisdiction of the Treasury. The committee doesn't have the power to print money; that's the job for the Mint. As for the various grants, they all need the Treasury's seal of approval on them."
Mayne couldn't help but feel disappointed at these words, though he wasn't exactly surprised: "True enough, getting even a bit of budget from those penny-pinchers is like asking for their lives. Even if we held a knife to the Treasury's throat, they wouldn't loosen their grip on financial power."
