On the recordApril 25, 2013
The Senator from Oklahoma is my friend, and we have worked together on many occasions. I wish to state for the Record, because he knows it and I wish to put it on the Record, that we have what is called a blue-slip problem. There are no Federal taxes as part of the underlying bill. In fact, no taxes--no new taxes. If we add a provision, which the Senator has suggested--and he has six or eight amendments each dealing with the Internal Revenue Code, and many of them very meritorious--they would be objected to and the bill would be rejected in the House because revenue measures have to originate in the House of Representatives. So it is a technical, procedural objection and does not reflect my feelings about the substance or about the sponsor.
