Mike Levin

The gentleman's answer is that he should have a different standard than willfulness. Now, I am not sure how this was drafted, but maybe the thing to do is, if the gentleman wants to pass this amendment, understand its contradictions or…

We have five or six committees looking into this, and I support investigations into where money came from. Mr. Thompson spent a number of months and came out without evidence. Now we will see what other committees come up with. And if…

I want to express my optimism now that we have a real shot at reform. That is really the issue, whether we are going to make political speeches, try to make political points, or are we going to have political reform. The test will be…

No, no, no, I will take back my time. I will tell my colleague why. I will not let him label that. That is not a defense. It is an explanation of the depth of the problem. And what happened in the Bush White House was wrong and whatever…

The question is whether they should come within the kind of regulation that now applies to ads that say ``elect'' or ``defeat.'' Here is the what the executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action said. ``It is foolish to…

I believe the Senator from Kentucky has made a strong case. I agree with him. Complex tax proposals of this type which preempt State tax laws do not belong in a defense bill. I will make sure that his concerns are considered by the…

Let me congratulate Senator Dodd for his amendment. It is inconceivable to me, as it was to him, that a retired reservist would have to wait for up to 9 months to receive the first pension check. The Army must fix this problem, and…

This amendment, if adopted, will dig us into a deeper hole. We are not authorizing a new BRAC round in this bill. That is not before us. This amendment will make it more difficult for the Secretary of Defense to realign bases that he…

On behalf of Senators Bingaman, Santorum, Lieberman, Lott and Frist, I offer an amendment which would express the sense of the Senate there should be a 10-year objective for the Secretary of Defense for increasing funding for science and…

I think the reporter appreciated your effort a lot more than the folks in New York appreciated my efforts.

First, I think I want to just restate what the President's statement here is. It is not that these will be achieved before. That is not what this states. It is that ``implementation can continue.'' I just want to again reiterate what this…

Our resolution is very clear: Our forces cannot be there indefinitely. We want our forces out within a reasonable period of time. It is our belief that it will take a long time for these kinds of civilian reforms to occur. The goal of the…

I want to just respond to that, because the words in the President's language is not ``these need to be achieved.'' In fairness--and I do not consider this to be an abundantly clear document. That is the reason why I think we should speak…

As long as it takes for those goals to be accomplished. It is because those goals, as important as they are--those are important goals; they could take decades, as I just said to the good Senator from West Virginia, they could take…

It is because it will take such a long time, in our judgment, for those kinds of civilian goals to be achieved that we must send a clear signal we cannot be there--

1. The Dayton cease-fire remains in place, supported by mechanisms for military-to-military transparency and cooperation. 2. Police in both entities are restructured, re-integrated, re-trained and equipped in accordance with democratic…

There is nothing stated beyond that relative to the mission in this letter. Of course, we have other statements from them as to what their mission is, but this letter does not restate what their mission is.

Yes. We will conduct regular reviews of our force posture and progress towards the benchmarks we have established, and we expect further reductions will be possible but----

I say to the gentleman, then, go back and read Shays-Meehan. Go back and read it, because all it says is, within the last 60 days, especially if there is express advocacy, if you attack a candidate, but do not say vote against, or if you…

My colleague is 100 percent right. It is so cynical for anybody to suggest that the people who are in office, who helped raise the money in many cases, do not know the source of the funds. The gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Greenwood) is…

The reason the gentleman does not want to do that is because allowing nongermane amendments is a strategy, it is a tactic. At first the gentleman tried to choke campaign reform with a very restrictive rule and attacked it. Some of the…

Look, what is the difference between rule 1 and rule 2? Rule 2 allows nongermane amendments, 258. Why do they want nongermane amendments? That is not the traditional pattern on this floor. Is it to promote free speech? Not for a moment. My…

I wanted to ask the gentleman quickly about the back and forth on TANF. Does not the budget resolution say that there shall be a $10 billion reduction in Function 600?

Money is swamping the Democratic process and you are standing up, defending the status quo. The present system demeans the contributor. It demeans the recipient. It increases polarization, and it deepens public cynicism. Shays-Meehan…

I just wanted to say to my friend from Florida that we discussed this in the Committee on Ways and Means and it was clear that the staff of the majority discussed this and helped initiate this. Maybe discussed it with the administration…