Mike Levin

On behalf of Senators Wyden, Collins, Clinton, Byrd, and Lautenberg, I offer an amendment which requires a report on contracting for the reconstruction of Iraq.

The chairman is correct. This issue was not brought to my attention until the floor. But there are a number of issues which are brought to our attention for the first time on the floor. I hope any of us can support those issues when they…

Well, I certainly am not committed to the bill as written because there are a number of provisions in the bill that I opposed in committee and that I have opposed on the floor.

The Senator is correct. But it is important to point out that there was so much concern about step 1, there was a fence or a condition attached to the expenditure of the money. It is incumbent upon all of us to read the report and ask…

It is quite clear what the Senator from Rhode Island and I want to do, which is maintain a prohibition on the development of new nuclear weapons. The difference is exactly what the Senator from Rhode Island said, which is that his…

In our committee I offered the amendment saying, come back for reauthorization because under the circumstances, having defeated what we just had previously defeated in committee, I thought that was the best that could be achieved. And we…

When the Senator says it reimposes the limitation on development, the Senator is correct. It does do that.

The Reed amendment, according to my dear friend from Virginia, would reimpose the prohibition on development that was just repealed in the bill's language and left in because of the defeat of the Feinstein amendment. That is correct.

The so-called bunker busters, which is a total misnomer in my book because these are city busters--they may indeed be nation busters or world busters, but nevertheless the so-called bunker busters are two weapons. There is a so-called B-61…

Under the law that exists today, the so-called Spratt- Furse language which exists in law today, there is a prohibition on research and development which could lead to the production of a so- called low-yield weapon. Under the bill, that…

The so-called low-yield weapons indeed are about one-third the power of the weapon that was used at Hiroshima.

There are all kinds of amendments that have not been considered. Senator Reed is one human being who has taken upon himself a huge amount of material to digest and present to the committee. He did a magnificent job. I think my good friend…

Relative to bills that come before them. These are complex bills. I assume they consult all the time. I cannot imagine it is unusual for the Parliamentarian to talk to either Members of the Senate or to our staff. By the way, this…

Perhaps we can get the numbers clarified overnight. Senator Daschle's estimate, after the first few years, where, I guess, there is a phase-in of some kind, is $1.2 billion, as the Senator from South Carolina indicated. I am trying to…

So the Senator is suggesting--it is important to get these numbers straightened out overnight--that the cost to the Government of the second option that Senator Daschle offers, which is to maintain private insurance, that cost is not…

I think one of the important words in the question asked by the Senator from Virginia is the word ``constructively.'' I would just add the word ``fairly.'' So if we can do something that is constructive and fair for the people impacted----

Some U.S. companies have opened sham offices in Bermuda and pretended that the sham offices are the parent corporation, and thereby avoided taxes which the rest of us have to pay and which, indeed, their competitors have to pay. It is…

The Republican bill is not a growth bill; it is fiscally irresponsible for this Nation and is unfair to individual taxpayers. Only 9 percent of the tax cuts will take effect this year. It would mean more and more and more deficits. This…

While I oppose the level and distribution of funding in this amendment, it is no worse than what is in the current budget resolution, and it proposes a tax cut plan which is superior to the one before us. While it is a better alternative…

The men and women we have now placed in harm's way are carrying the prayers of every single Member of this body and every single man, woman, and child in this Nation. They are carrying on in the greatest traditions of the American…

I can think of no one in this body who is more appropriate to bring this debate to a close, or near to a close, than Senator Johnson of South Dakota whose son is serving with such honor and distinction and who brings such pride to his…

I wish all of our troops could see the two of you standing together here. I had no doubt we would unite in support of our troops when the time came, and that is exactly what is happening. This picture is a very eloquent statement about the…

Condition 2 of the Resolution of Ratification requires the President to submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Armed Services Committee an annual report that would include, among other things, the following: A, a listing of…

Just to add one further thought, it seems to me it would be absolutely irresponsible not to have a range or an estimate of what the cost of a war would be in the best and worst case scenarios.

These letters are far from unique. In case after case, Federal Prison Industries insists on taking contracts away from private businesses, even where FPI's products are inferior, their prices are higher, and they are not prepared to…