Cord Byrd

In a manner, this is just a continuation of the siphoning off of the legislative powers, as we saw in the Line-Item Veto Act. It was siphoned away. As a matter of fact, we just gave legislative power to the President. Aside from that…

Mr. President, I am looking at the memorandum that is being distributed by the Executive Office of the President, the Office of Management and Budget, dated October 30, 1997. It carries the heading ``Statement of Administration Policy.'' I…

I agree that if this is going to be done, if we are going to have the line-item veto, let it be done the way the framers provided that it be done; namely, through an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, not by statute. I don't think we can…

I am not willing to assume that the President has a monopoly on wisdom. I have represented the people of West Virginia now for 51 years in one office or another. I think I have a pretty good idea of what they need, what they want, and so…

Mr. President, Cato, the Elder, lived between the years 234 B.C. and 149 B.C. He was a great Roman statesman, and he once went to Carthage and viewed the operations of the Carthaginians and saw the progress they were making in building a…

I was saddened to learn that Don C. Womack, who served as superintendent of the U.S. Senate Press Gallery from 1973 to 1981, died of cancer Thursday morning at his home in Arlington at the age of 87. Don was born in Danville, Virginia…

Some days ago, the two distinguished Senators, Mr. Chafee and Mr. Domenici, offered an amendment which they proposed to call up at some point during the debate on the highway bill. There has been no floor discussion of that amendment. I…

With the passage of the Appalachian Regional Development Act by Congress in 1965, the Appalachian Development Highway System got its start by providing smaller regional centers in the Appalachian region with four-lane expressway links to…

I hope the Senators will read it. It is needed, I think, to disabuse Senators from what they are being told by Congress Daily and by letters and tables that are being distributed. I don't accuse anyone of acting in bad faith. I am in no…

I have been intrigued--modestly, if I may say, so as not to exaggerate--at the plethora of complaints that are being in some instances stridently expressed about the President's use of the line-item veto. I suppose what amazes me so much…

The Senate passed the so-called Line-Item Veto Act on March 23, 1995. The legislation went to conference where it lay dormant for something like a year, and I am told that the standard bearer of the Republican Party in last year's…

We will recall that the President had disapproved various projects that had been included in the Fiscal Year 1998 Military Construction Appropriations Act. The President, under his newly gained authority, had disapproved 38 of the…

On another matter, I'm informed that on yesterday the distinguished, the very distinguished, Senator from Rhode Island reached his 75th birthday. Oh, to be 75 again! I experienced that happy occasion 5 years ago. Today is the 23rd of…

I will speak with reference to the so-called line-item veto of the fiscal year 1998 Military Construction Appropriations Act. I received a letter today from Mr. Franklin D. Raines, Director of the Executive Office of the President, Office…

I can guarantee the Senator, I will never be in his State advocating that his people not vote for him, and if I'm up in his State, I will be glad to say what I have just said today about him.

I would view that happening with some disappointment, if not sadness. I hope that no effort will be made to repeal the gas tax. If that happens, that would mean an increase in the deficit. And if the author of such an amendment happens to…

The reauthorization of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, or ISTEA II as it is often referred to, will set the authorization levels for the next 6 years for major portions of our national transportation system. And I…

Let's go back to 1990 just a bit. The distinguished Senator has specificated the 4.3 cents. Let's go back to 1956, when I was in the Congress. We passed the interstate highway bill during the Eisenhower administration and I voted for it…

I have read and heard some things that are being said about the amendment that do not conform to the proper rules of exactitude. I don't say it is intentional. I think some of these things have been said, perhaps all, through a…

I have seen some of the papers on the desks around here saying what this amendment purportedly will do. We Senators wanted to clear the record today to say that it will not do this and it will not do that and it will not do other things…

I am pleased and I am proud to join with the distinguished chairman of the Appropriations Committee, my friend, a friend in every sense of the word, Ted Stevens, in offering legislation to put back on the President's desk those projects…

The important first step, as I say, which we 83 Senators sought in our letter has now been achieved; namely, the transfer of the 4.3 cents per gallon gasoline tax from deficit reduction into the Highway Trust Fund. I believe it was Senator…

The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, which was enacted as part of the balanced budget agreement, included a provision which ended the use of the 4.3 cents per gallon gas tax for deficit reduction and instead placed this tax into the Highway…

If there are savings, let's spend the money in the trust fund for that which the American people think it is to be spent for, not other competing needs. That is just what we are saying it is being spent now for--for other competing needs…

Come one, come all. This rock will fly from its firm base as soon as I. Mr. President, the distinguished Senator from Rhode Island has made some comments questioning the fact that people in this country--I think it is a fact--the people in…