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…

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?

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

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…

I think, like most of us, that we must address the problem of unfunded mandates. I was a cosponsor of last year's bill. I am a former local official. I understand the impact of a mandate when Washington imposes it on us at a local level…

the bill does not presume that we will pay for the increase on the private hospital. It does create a presumption that we will for the public hospital. Of course it can be waived by 50 votes. There is a presumption in the bill.

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…

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…

It was not in the bill last year. This was a language that was in a bill introduced on a Wednesday night, which went to a hearing on Thursday morning, which was intended to go to a markup on a Friday morning which we had to plead for a…

this amendment responds to a lengthy discussion that we had yesterday about whether the bill should allow the Congressional Budget Office to state when it honestly cannot estimate the direct cost of an intergovernmental mandate. The bill…

I want to commend Senator Bingaman of New Mexico, for his successful effort to modify the Gorton amendment. The modified amendment expresses a sense of the Senate but does not bind the panel on which Senator Bingaman serves. We have asked…

The Senate has no basis. The CBO told us that they cannot make the estimate. You say they can be honest. You ought to say that in the bill, they can be honest. But you do not want to say that in the bill because then the point of order…

first, I just have one additional question of the Senator from Nebraska. That has to do with the House of Representatives. We are in a position here where he, as ranking member of the Budget Committee, has said it is inappropriate to vest…

I can go on and on through these exemptions. I think the point is clear. We are skating out on a new pond. The Parliamentarian has never ruled on these issues, whether or not language constitutes a mandate; whether or not, because it is an…

I was interested in the Senator from New Mexico's comment about leaving this to the Parliamentarian, as though the law assigns certain responsibilities to the Budget Committee. The way I read the law, the four references out of the five in…

Now, when we say, ``Just keep doing it the way we have done it before,'' let us understand what we are talking about. We have a Budget Act--and I will get to that in a minute, because the Budget Act makes specific references to the Budget…

The question is, should they be able to tell us they cannot make an estimate. The Senator from Idaho keeps saying sure, they ought to. A minute ago, he said a good-faith effort. The words ``good-faith effort'' are not in the bill. The…

If the Director determines that it is not feasible for him to make a reasonable estimate that would be required with respect to Federal private-sector mandates, the Director shall not make the estimate but shall report in the statement…

Which is a good goal. But if the author of the legislation attempts to obtain that estimate, and it is impossible for the CBO to make it, even if there is a diligent request, why not allow the Director to be honest? Why force the Director…

the point the chairman makes, it seems to me, cuts exactly the opposite way. Since an appropriation is hanging on the estimate when it comes to the intergovernmental money, it seems to me that is more of a reason that estimate should be…

We have been diligent. We have tried for weeks and weeks and weeks and months to get an estimate and cannot get it because they say there is no way they can make this estimate for various reasons. It may be that the EPA is going to…

I am saying quite the opposite, if the Senator would yield. Quite the opposite. It is worth getting an estimate. It is worth getting an honest estimate. And there is no way that in a few minutes, or in a few hours--indeed in a few days, if…

What this bill requires us to do, unlike last year's bill, is to get an estimate which at times we know is impossible to make from the experience of CBO, even on a bill, and we know it is even more impossible on more amendments to get…

it is a very good intent. We have a current law which says exactly the same thing. The Budget Act now requires the Congressional Budget Office to make the estimate, where practicable. The chairman, my friend from Delaware, asks, ``Where…

I think we are in a way on the same wavelength because I think it is important that we get honest estimates, too. My question is, If the CBO cannot estimate it--cannot estimate it, it is still out of order. Let me put it a different way…