Political Quotes

“I rise in support of the Boehlert amendment to H.R. 350. It perfects the important goal of this legislation to require Congress to focus even more closely on the costs that would be imposed on an industry or small business sector if a particular legislative proposal is enacted into law. I strongly support the goal of H.R. 350 and I applaud Mr. Portman and Mr. Condit's hard work on this issue. I voted for the Mandates Information Act in the 105th Congress and I would like to do so again. However, I am not convinced that the bill's provision to allow major legislation to be pulled from the floor after 20 minutes debate on a point of order is needed to protect private industry. I believe the Boehlert amendment would address this problem. First, the Boehlert amendment will allow 20 minutes of additional debate on the cost issue beyond the time for general debate. This is consistent with the stated purpose of the Mandates Information Act. Section 3 of the bill states that its purpose is to provide more complete information about the effects of private mandates and ensure focused deliberation on those effects. It seeks to distinguish between mandates that harm consumers, workers, and small businesses, and mandates that help those groups. Second, there is more accountability with the Boehlert amendment. H.R. 350 would allow any Member to claim the proposed bill would impose $100 million in expense without any independent verification.”