this is the amendment that would return money to the States from the tobacco company payments to trial lawyers, money that exceeded reasonable fees as determined by a common standard in the courts and an IRS Code provision. What we have…

I at least want to compliment the sponsors of this amendment for not having a gimmicky amendment. This is a flat out, straight assault. It simply abolishes all the tax cuts in the bill. So I do compliment my colleagues on their very…

This amendment is known as the tobacco tax lawyers amendment. The technical name is different than that, but the gist of this amendment is that about $9 billion could be returned to the States, the clients in the tobacco litigation, from…

The point is this: Those pundits were saying if the economy is in pretty good shape next year, the President should have a pretty good chance of being reelected, but if the economy is not good, then it will be more difficult for the…

If I could respond to the last point. The matter about which the court has some degree of discretion is in the way it weighs the affidavit presentation relative to the underlying predicate for the warrant, the activities that are being…

There are two things the court will have to determine. First, that this is a warrant that should be issued, that there is probable cause the underlying crime is being committed or activities engaged in for the preparation of a crime. And…

First let me address Senator Feingold. He is correct about the misstatement I made this morning. I do recall making this statement that the Feinstein amendment would apply generally to the section of law rather than just S. 113. The…

We are talking about a bill which would plug a loophole in the existing law--the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act--which currently authorizes warrants to be obtained in two specific situations. We make it clear that there is a third…

I rise in morning business for a moment to speak about the nomination of Priscilla Owen of Texas to the Federal bench. This is really an extraordinary nomination. It is very troubling to me that it appears most of our colleagues on the…

I was about to say there is no more honest Member of this body than the Senator from Iowa, who spoke a moment ago. When he lays out the case for this particular facility in Ames, IA, I do not think any of us can quibble with that. That is…

I support the Senator's amendment. One could make an argument for this particular case, as the Senator from Mississippi has just done. That argument should be made in a place and a time that doesn't, however, attempt to take advantage of…

I would ask the Finance Committee, in its consideration of legislation dealing with welfare reform, Medicaid, and issues regarding uncompensated care, to work with me to provide for consideration of legislation to provide for this…

Rev. Lloyd Ogilvie came to the Senate when I did in 1995. He and I became good friends. Lloyd has meant more to me than I can express. He has been a friend and spiritual advisor to my colleagues and many, many staff members and employees…

Last night leading elements of our coalition forces began to rid the land and the people of Iraq of the oppression of Saddam Hussein and eliminate the threat he poses to the rest of the world. Throughout our history, our Nation has…

Rather than restating all the arguments for repeal, since we have already voted to do that, I will bring my colleagues up to date on some current research about what the American people believe about the estate tax. A poll was conducted…

Might I add one more thing, that, in our amendment, is accounted for within the budget because the money is taken from another account so it is not added on to the expense of the budget.

in order to understand the constitutional problem we face with the filibuster of Miguel Estrada, it is important for the Senate and the public to focus on what is really going on here. This filibuster is not a dispute about Mr. Estrada's…

I will speak about the nomination of Miguel Estrada to be a judge for the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals. ... So the business about not answering questions is really a smokescreen. It is a smokescreen for opposition to his…

I wish to expand on what the Senator from Utah was just talking about. To put this in context, I remind my colleagues we are talking about the nomination of a very distinguished lawyer, Miguel Estrada, by President Bush to serve on the DC…

I think I counted 30 questions that were orally asked during the course of a hearing that, as I understand it, went from 10:06 a.m. to 5:25 p.m. In addition to that, the committee routinely sends a questionnaire to these candidates. That…

Further on this line of inquiry, if I could ask the Senator from Utah to yield, other than the case of Justice Abe Fortas, does the Senator from Utah know of any situation in which a nominee for the Supreme Court or the circuit court of…

This goes back, I would advise the Senator from Utah, to the question of whether or not there has been a full opportunity to discover what this nominee believes, what his background is, whether he is well qualified, whether there has been…

With respect to the Paez nomination, is it not also true that a majority of the Republicans supported the cloture motion vote so that Judge Paez could get a vote but that many of those very same Senators then voted against him? Having…

The cloture motion in the case of Judge Paez was filed by the party in control of this body, by the distinguished majority leader of the Republican Party at that time, Trent Lott. I would also ask this question: Is it not true that the…

in this wonderfully written piece, Rudy Giuliani talks about the astonishing record of this immigrant from Honduras, speaking only a few words of English, who attended Columbia, made Phi Beta Kappa, graduated magna cum laude, then went to…