Chuck Grassley: “I am not sure that everybody is aware of what we are considering as the underlying bill in this body. But remember…”

“I am not sure that everybody is aware of what we are considering as the underlying bill in this body. But remember, during the campaign there was a hue and cry from the grassroots, expressed very clearly in that election, that people wanted to end the situation where we had two sets of laws in America, one for Capitol Hill and one for the rest of the Nation. In other words, Congress did not have certain employment safety laws apply to us that applied to the private sector. The small business people of America are very up in arms about the fact that they have to abide by very egregious legislation, and we who make the laws have exempted ourselves from that. That bill passed the House of Representatives 2 days ago unanimously. Senator Dole placed the Congressional Accountability Act, which I and Senator Lieberman are main sponsors of, as a first bill on the agenda because he wanted to respond to the people at the grassroots who expressed in that election the resentment of a dual system of law in America. So that is why that bill is before us.”