Political Quotes

“And I do know that at some point they will be offered. But I would only point out also to the ranking member, to the Senator from Ohio, if he could also then give me his attention--forgive me--on this, that the Budget Committee has adopted a committee amendment which is significantly different in terms of the mechanism to implement this from the mechanism adopted in Governmental Affairs. And the Senator from New Hampshire just confirmed that, in fact, the committee amendment in the Budget Committee did strike the role of the Budget Committee and the Governmental Affairs Committee in making that final determination of what the cost is. Now, it is correct, of course, that Senator Domenici would be here when that amendment is presumably offered. But it is critically important that the Senate understand the difference in the process which is being proposed in the Governmental Affairs majority position from the Budget Committee position, and the report would be very helpful in this regard. This is not an insignificant thing. It is dry stuff. I know how dry these processes can be. But this Senate, if this bill, either version, passes, will be in a position of having our Parliamentarian decide what is the cost of implementing mandates. Think about it. The Parliamentarian will have to make that final decision, amendment after amendment after amendment, bill after bill after bill.…”