U.S. State Secretaries of State

As the distinguished Senator has correctly, in my judgment pointed out, this is a separation of powers issue. The agency will void the mandate if the appropriations committee at any point in the future provides insufficient funding to…

It does not name the agency. It is obviously--to me--not the Congressional Budget Office. It says, ``responsible Federal agency.'' To me, it is referring to an executive branch agency, some agency in the executive branch.

It seems to me it is incumbent on the Senate to eliminate this provision until such time as the issue is more fully debated.

Well, as I said earlier, I may vote for this unfunded mandates bill. I probably will. I do not know yet. I still want to study it some, and may offer an amendment or so. But I am a little bit surprised that the leader is implying that a…

I thought progress was being made on the bill. It seems to me that the Senate was working its will.

I do not mean for the Senator to address that particular aspect of it. That was not my point. I do not expect this bill to address that aspect of it. But Mrs. Boxer and others are obviously very concerned with respect to the unfunded…

That is why I voted for the 1990 package that was developed at the summit among the Republicans and the Democrats, when Mr. Bush was President. That is why I voted for the 1993 package. Not a Member, not one of our friends on the other…

I personally favor a sunset provision in this legislation. We are reading and hearing a great deal about welfare reform. I think that if we had had a sunset provision in the laws regulating and governing welfare in this country we would…

I am not for it; I am not against it. I do not know where I am on this bill. I have not had an opportunity to study a committee report, although the committee report that was accompanying the bill which came from the Committee on…

That is not a committee report. I do not know whether all the members of the minority had an opportunity to present their views or not. There is a great difference between the committee report and the statement of the Senator in the Record.

If the leader will yield, I have no objection if the Senator wants to move to table them all. I am not here fighting this bill or supporting it. Before we vote up or down on an amendment, I want to know what we are voting on. If the…

Does it not follow then that if in due time amendment No. 1 is restored, would the number, the numbers that are being renumbered now, would they not have to be restored to their present stature?

But, Mr. President, we also have obligations, each of us has an obligation to know what is in this bill, and I think it is very important that we see those committee reports. I wish to see the committee report from the Committee on the…

The Congress declares that prior to any vote to adopt in the first session of the 104th Congress a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution requiring a balanced Federal budget, it is essential... It is essential that it…

The Senator is getting very close. He is getting very close. I do not want to say right here that I would support that as the Senator has outlined the precise changes, but he is moving in the direction, and I would like to see what he puts…

His proposal does not correct that fact. Why does the Senator not offer a proposition that will provide cloture only by two-thirds of those present and voting or by three-fifths of those present and voting?

The Founding Fathers were wise. The current rules are the result of experience and trial and testing over the period going back to the beginning of this republic. The previous question was done away with, as I have already stated, almost…

My friends and others have stated that there are only five instances, in the Constitution, of reference to a supermajority. I call their attention to amendment 12 of the Constitution, which provides that in the election of a President by…

I feel very deeply that as long as we have a Senate in which there is unlimited debate, the liberties of the American people will always be protected. I think that we change that rule at our peril, and at the peril of the liberties of the…

Well, Mr. President, I want to protect the right of the minority on a matter of substance in particular. But do the Senators not agree that most of the cloture motions that have been laid down by the majority leader in the past few years…

Would not the Senator agree that filibusters used in such instances as he has just related here are not the filibusters which have caused the Senate the problems of abuse which most Senators and I perceive as being problems? Do the…