This is the document created, if I may say so, following all of the input. The CBO has done its work and has consulted with State and local officials. After consultation, it then tells us that this is their best estimate. This is what is…

My question then of the Senator from Ohio is, since this is not an estimate of the 5-year costs, once that threshold has been reached--strike the five. I want to change my 5-year time. I do not want to get two 5-year periods in here. It…

Well, I think there is a serious ambiguity here and, to some extent, an abdication if we let this go without clarification. The abdication is that we must, as a Senate and a House, later on know what the legislation intended. It is central…

I thank my friend. This is a very different process, may I say. The CBO would never have to determine whether or not there was a mandate that applied to local government, what year it is effective, and it was never required to create with…

I agree with my friend from Idaho, by the way, that authorization bills should have limits. But there is no saying that Senators cannot offer a bill that does not have a limit on the length of the authorization. They do it all the time…

But if a range is going to be permitted, then it seems to me the bill must be explicit as to what will be that magic, specific amount upon which a point of order is going to either lie or not lie. I must say, I do not see any logic in…

The point is that you are asking the CBO to make an estimate. I am telling you what their conclusion is. I am telling the Senator what the conclusion of the CBO is so we can have a discussion. It makes no difference in my hypothetical…

That is actually a related but somewhat different idea. If I have enough space on my amendments list, I intend to offer an amendment on this matter. The Senator from Ohio raised the same question, and this is what it is. Let us assume the…

If I may say so, we are introducing a tremendous ambiguity, because we are saying in the bill that the first fiscal year after the effective date, and each 4 fiscal years thereafter, we will determine a critical estimate. I am giving the…

now, under my hypothetical the Congressional Budget Office has made an estimate. It has taken into consideration each of the items that have been mentioned in the authorizing bill. I could not agree more with the Senator from Idaho that…

Well, the amendment is $20 million, and $20 million is under the $50 million threshold.

The other possibility, if I may ask the Senator to yield, is that we are overfunding. We do not want to be appropriating more money or requiring the appropriation of more money than is needed to do the job. They are both unacceptable…

last week we began a colloquy with the managers of the bill on some of the uncertain provisions and ambiguous provisions in the bill. I thought we could pick that colloquy up this evening. I have a number of amendments that have been…

I may offer an amendment to basically have an inflation factor built in so that we would reestimate every few years what that $50 million or $100 million or $200 million is to the nearest $10 million. I have reserved a number of…

We also have subsequent appropriations which are possible, as well. We are trying to legislate now on the basis of an estimate. There is no logic in an estimate to say we are going to go with the high point of a range anymore than there is…

Then the bill would have to be amended to provide that the Budget Committee would get involved prior to the markup of the bill in committee. Because as I understand it, it is CBO that makes the estimate and the Budget Committee does not…

My question is this: On line 15, page 35, there is a reference to the $100 million which the Senator from Oklahoma is now amending to apply to either public or private. And my question that properly should have been addressed to the…

this bill has certain exclusions in certain areas where sponsors of the bill have determined that it should not apply. Section 4 on page 12 reads that ``The provisions of this act and the amendments made by this act shall not apply to any…

I agree, we should know the consequences of our acts. We should know the impacts on local and State governments. I used to be that local official 8 years. I came to this town because I did not like what the Federal Government was doing to…

What does the reference ``any one'' year mean, on line 15, page 35? Is that any one year, ever? Is that any one year of the 5 years of the 5 fiscal years? What is that reference?

let me say to my friend from West Virginia that he is the legislative craftsman par excellence, as far as I am concerned. And he has been a role model in this regard, reminding all Members of the importance of taking the time to craft laws…

Mr. President, I wanted to ask a question of my friend from Oklahoma about the meaning of his amendment. As I understand it, the statement that would be required to be prepared, pursuant to section 202(a), if this amendment is adopted…

If the private sector mandate is $100 million more, that would trigger the reform.

let me read a letter from Consumers Power Co. This is a major energy supplier in my home State of Michigan. This is dated January 11: The Unfunded Mandate Reform Act of 1995 is intended to relieve State and local governments of unfunded…

While we are on this line--I am wondering, while we are focused on this one line of the bill, I have not had a chance to ask my friend from Idaho this question either. Is the reference to ``adjusted annually for inflation,'' adjusted from…