I can see how this would go on without any clarification of when the hearings would begin for the rest of this year. I think that would be a very bad mistake. Clearly, I have people who ask me exactly what is going on and when are you…

Let me ask a final question of the Senator and then make a statement and then yield to others. What are the Senator's intentions then with regard to this resolution? I fear exactly what he just said, what would happen if we do not move…

The Senator has no doubt the hearings can begin, go forward, without impeding the separate investigation by the special counsel? You have indicated we would not intend to grant immunity to witnesses. Clearly you can go forward without…

I would just note, Mr. President, a couple of the headlines. One of them in one of my home State newspapers in Jackson, MS, says, ``Ailing Social Security pays $32 million in Bonuses.'' Another headline, ``Agency Shells Out Cash.'' And it…

Let me point out what Judge Barkett has said about criminals. In 1991, in the Wickam versus State case, Wickam shot a man in the back, chest, and head and stole $4.05 from the corpse. Can you believe that--kill a man for $4? The Florida…

It is $240 billion, and this would require about a 10 percent reduction in that amount. I do not want to belittle that. That is a high percentage, and it would not be easy. But, I want to emphasize it probably is $23 billion out of $240…

If the distinguished Senator from Tennessee will yield, I know what he is talking about. I was in the so-called ``Gang of 17.'' I went through the budget negotiation in 1982. I was there in 1987. It is very tough. You have some folks say…

I still maintain--and I know the Senator from Florida does--that the problem is not insufficient revenue coming into the Federal Government. It is too much spending and an inability to prioritize that will not allow us to move toward a…

let me emphasize that I understand this is not a deficit reduction commission. This is a spending reduction commission.

I have enjoyed listening to the remarks of the Senator from Florida. I thought about this proposal a great deal, as he knows. I have talked to him about it. When the suggestion was originally made, I cosponsored his legislation now in the…

I say this somewhat facetiously but also somewhat seriously. We have a Base Closure Commission to deal with the fact that some bases needed to be closed and we could not deal with the politics of it. We had a commission not exactly like…

If the budget resolution we have before us is not changed, Defense will suffer an additional 9.6-percent reduction. That is in addition to the reductions it has already taken. I have heard it said here on the floor in the last couple of…