if anybody heard that giant sucking sound this afternoon at 1 p.m., it was the sound of $11 billion worth of gold and 1,800 acres of land being transferred from all the people of America--the taxpayers of America--to a Canadian gold mining…

Do my colleagues realize that of the 1,200 sites on the Superfund list that 59 of the sites on the Superfund list are directly related to hardrock mining? We are spending millions of dollars a year right now of the taxpayers' money to…

I hope that the Senator--and I know he would--hopes that we come out with something that is good for the American people and not just the mining companies.

I appreciate the Senator's statement. My arguments are not punitive. I am not trying to punish the mining companies, and I am not trying to punish the people who work for the mining companies. Certainly the Senators who stand on the floor…

Senator, I think that in the case of your beloved daughter, you would be quite secure if she came home with a gift of almost any value--well, I will not say that--but of nominal value, say, $20. You could be secure in that because there is…

So if someone wants to give me a $20 bottle of wine every day 365 days a year that is not a violation?

So gifts having a value of less than $20 from the same or different sources on a basis so frequent that a reasonable person is led to believe the Member or officer or employee is using the public office for private gain. Let me go back up…

I intend to support the McConnell-Johnston-Inouye amendment. It is a rather tough decision from a political point, and I had not made up my mind until I heard the Senator from Kentucky make his presentation yesterday afternoon, which I…

It is better than asking the man the value of this cap or T-shirt, whatever it is. T-shirts are much more expensive than I dreamed of these days. I tried to buy one a couple of weeks ago and it was $15. But you can say in a nice, discrete…

Is the Senator telling me that staff members, wives and spouses and dependents are not affected by this?

One of the strongest objections I have had to the Levin proposal is not that lobbyists are prohibited from making any kind of a gift or contribution to a Senator, but because all other gifts are limited to $20. I must say I do not…