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

I am wondering whether or not the $200 million figure also goes up as well? It does. All right. That is fine if there is an inflation factor already built in. I thank the Senator from Ohio. Now, getting back to this question, let us assume…

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…

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…

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"?

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…

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.

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…

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 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…

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…

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

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

We do require such a calculation now. We have had something like 850 of those calculations, I think, in the last 12 years. There is a law, the Congressional Budget Act, which requires the Director of the Congressional Budget Office, to the…