Cord Byrd: “I very much admire the able Senator from New Hampshire. I like him. As Shakespeare said, ``He's a man after my own…”

“I very much admire the able Senator from New Hampshire. I like him. As Shakespeare said, ``He's a man after my own kidney.'' That about says it all, I guess. That is the way I feel about the Senator from New Hampshire. He and I served together in the last Congress as chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee. I also have the pleasure of serving with him on the Senate Budget Committee, where he has been chairman--and I mean chairman--and is now the ranking member. The Senator from New Hampshire is one of the finest, one of the brightest, one of the most illustrious Senators serving today. I want Senators to know--and, of course, the Congressional Record will reflect--that as much as I oppose the line-item veto--and that is saying a mouthful--I very much respect the Senator from New Hampshire who has attached his name to it. In his remarks last week on his line-item veto amendment, the very able Senator from New Hampshire, Mr. Gregg, noted that this is not a new issue before the Senate. He correctly noted that the Senate passed a line-item veto measure in 1996, which was later nullified by the U.S. Supreme Court--the highest court of the land--in 1998. It is appropriate, very appropriate, that Senators know something about the history of this issue, particularly those Senators who were not here when the Senate last considered this piece of garbage called the line-item veto.”