David Skaggs

Or is that the case, because it talks about reasonable legislation. Are we going to have the courts deciding whether a Congress has reasonably exercised its judgment about what de minimis means?

But would the gentleman agree there is nothing to prevent some future Congress from coming up with whatever arbitrary definition of de minimis it might see fit to impose?

If I may interrupt the gentleman again, as I mentioned at the outset, the gentleman from Texas, who is the principal sponsor of this proposal, and I agreed we would try to have a free exchange. I see he is on his feet. Perhaps he can…

Could I engage the gentleman just on that point because, you know, you stop to think of it, we would not have this Constitution to amend had it not been for the fact that a supermajority provision in the Articles of Confederation, just…

Let me ask either the gentleman from Massachusetts or Virginia, one of the things that has been a regular topic of debate around here the last few months has been questions of corporate welfare, closing corporate tax loopholes. Will we be…

Has there ever been a case before this Congress when the Committee on the Judiciary completely failed to mark up a constitutional amendment?

I think we need to expound on this point a little bit more. Nobody here is interested in raising taxes per se. This is not about taxes, it is about the Constitution of the United States and having a workable system of government. The…

Mr. Chairman, I just would inquire of the sponsor of this amendment, what business is it of the Federal Government whether Regis College in Denver, CO spends some of its funds lobbying Denver city council over a land-use matter? Why should…

Mr. Speaker, just in trying to reconcile the text of this 60-plus pages with the summary, I notice that, for instance, on page 18-E of the bill, we address the question of a partial repeal of a provision recently enacted in the Lobbying…

It is not that point, but the apparent internal inconsistency between the 75-percent cap and the other language in this legislation that prescribes funding levels for the Commerce Department in accordance with the earlier rejected…

The gentleman is correct, in support of removing the cap that is now in the bill on the declassification operations of individual agencies, and as the gentleman knows, the amounts that might be involved in the environmental task force…

I appreciate the solicitude about improving the gentleman's proposal. I think we can make a very, very quick and brief act of mercy on it that will effect the real improvements necessary.

I cannot avoid commenting on the gentleman's characterization that this is attempting to improve on the intent of the gentleman from Oklahoma in offering this. His intent is unimprovable. This change certainly makes the bad impact of this…

This amendment would move $5 million from the operation maintenance account dealing with, in particular, travel, and shift that $5 million into the account for intelligence community management. Mr. Chairman, the purpose is to provide…

Actually, this goes even farther and includes some of the groups that the gentleman from California mentioned. Now, it would not affect defense contractors, for instance, but the way I read it, somebody getting Burec water at a subsidized…

This amendment would add into the weatherization program the available monies now existing underneath our 602(b) allocation budget authority of about $3.5 million that has been freed up by virtue of earlier amendments adopted this evening…

I understand and share the Chairman's interest in promoting greater efficiency in this area, DOE. As the gentleman knows, the department has taken some important steps itself. I hope the chairman would agree with me that while greater…

Is the issue Henry Foster's nomination to be Surgeon General? No, that is not the real issue. What is really going on? This nomination has become the battle ground over abortion rights. President Clinton could not have put it better…

I appreciate the forthcomingness of the gentleman, who makes it very clear that he fundamentally disagrees with the proposition that those who cause pollution should pay to clean it up, and he holds to his position consistently and I think…

I would assume then that the gentleman would make no distinction between the publicly owned and the privately owned powerplant that pollutes in the Midwest?

Why does it not make sense for the owners of that dirty powerplant to pay the cost of controlling emissions?

Why should that publicly owned powerplant not pay for cleaning up its own pollution?

Then you fundamentally disagree with the proposition that the polluter should pay?

But if the gentleman would yield further, we can assume, given the evolution of the science of air quality and air pollution, that at some point this Congress will consider in the future tightened standards, and that is really what we are…

Mr. Chairman, do I understand your position correctly--and I have great regard for the gentleman from Pennsylvania--that he believes that we should have essentially a presumption here that a municipal-owned power plant or a municipal bus…