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…

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…

There are 800-some bills, which estimates were able to be made on the bills as I understand it in the last 12 years. That is where estimates could be made. And a whole bunch that could not be made. I do not think that the current law which…

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

Correct. Is there any doubt in your mind one Senator will raise any point of order? There is not 1 out of 100 Senators who opposes--by the way, the Senator from Idaho is a cosponsor of last year's bill.

This bill goes one step beyond that and creates the presumption that we are going to either pay for that increase for the public hospital or waive it. It does not do that for the private hospital. So, we go right down the road together…

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 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…

My question would be this: The word ``specific'' is not in here. Would this be clearer, does the Senator from Delaware believe, if the word ``specific'' were added before the words ``criteria and procedure"?

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.

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?

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

I think that is exactly what they should say, but you do not allow for it. I am the one who says the bill should allow for it. Let me make sure there is no confusion as to who is saying what. I am the one who says that we ought to allow…

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…

But the question is, if we allow for the fact that a director in the private sector is unable to make the estimate, why do we not have the same language relative to the intergovernmental mandates? Why not the same honesty? Why not the same…

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…

Why, then, do we not have the same language on the intergovernmental as we do on the private?

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…