Tom Harkin: “Some colleagues have said the contractors are going to sue the Government for breach of contract. I do not know what…”

“Some colleagues have said the contractors are going to sue the Government for breach of contract. I do not know what they are talking about. If a company has a contract with the DOD that specifies that payment must be made from fiscal year 1997 funds, it will be paid under my amendment. If there is no such clause in the contracts, then they will not be paid from 1997 funds. There is no breach of contract here. What my amendment is, is simply a 1-year moratorium on payments we are not obligated to pay in 1997. I know there was an amendment adopted earlier today of Mr. Bradley. It called for a study. That amendment makes the best case for my amendment. It is a clear recognition we do not know how to assure that any payments for merger claims are purely waste. What my amendment does is it says we are going to have a moratorium for 1 year. If you had in your contract you would be paid out of fiscal year 1997 funds, you will be paid. If there is no such existing agreement, then there is a 1-year moratorium until we can get the study done that I call for. I might add, that is a study done by GAO in concert with OMB and the inspector general, not some internal study done by the Department of Defense. So we can get the study back early next year, we can take a look at it and we can address this a year from now.”