Tom Harkin: “Four hundred million dollars a day. See, Mr. President, that is why we need a hearing. I thank the Senator from Iowa for…”

“Four hundred million dollars a day. See, Mr. President, that is why we need a hearing. I thank the Senator from Iowa for proving my point. This is not something that you can roll off the back of your hand going into the 15th hour of the day, a little before 9 o'clock Eastern Standard Time. But whatever the calculation comes out to be, I would strenuously object to tampering with any of the NIH money. And I say that after having put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, along with my colleague from Iowa, on getting the funding up. When the Senator from New Jersey says he is not changing the law, I think he is categorically wrong. If you are stopping the funding so that the change in the formula cannot be worked out, it is conclusively changing the law. This amendment to this appropriations bill is a specific effort to change the law. When you talk about a swing of billions of dollars--and I don't know whether that is right, wrong, or indifferent, but that is the representation made by the Senator from New Jersey--the impact on looking for an offset can hardly be de minimis, can hardly be minuscule, can hardly be irrelevant. You are talking about a swing of billions of dollars. I don't know that is so, but I would like to know a lot more about this amendment and what its impact is. And I would like to know a lot more about this whole idea of reducing student aid based upon some formula. I am not familiar with it.”