abhorrent as the remarks of the speaker at Kean College in New Jersey were, I do not think enough attention is being given to the enthusiastic response that his hateful words received from his college student audience. The applause of…

I do not want to give the Attorney General more authority. I want to give her specific evidence rather than just information. I want it from a credible source, not somebody off the wall. I think that helps everybody. But the gentleman…

Somebody said this would render the bill a nullity. Why in the world would we Republicans want to weaken the Office of Independent Counsel, now that the administration of the folks from Arkansas are in power? We want an independent…

what I am seeking by this amendment is to make this a better independent counsel bill. Right now the threshold for triggering a preliminary investigation by the Attorney General, simply requires that ``information,'' not…

I am trying to make this a workable provision. Under the law that we are about to reauthorize, the preliminary investigation threshold question was too low. I want to raise that threshold, not lower it. I do not want political manipulation…

But I want to change that to say not mere information but specific evidence, real evidence--not rumors, not assertions but specific evidence from a credible source.

Why did the gentleman not add it, then, instead of substituting it, because many of us think ``in the public interest'' is a different standard and one could have a political conflict, a personal conflict, a financial conflict, but not…

ladies and gentlemen of the House, this is nearly the last vote we will have on this very significant piece of legislation, the reauthorization of the independent counsel statute. My substitute, in my opinion, makes it a better bill. I am…

I wonder if I might ask the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Bryant] a question or two. It is my belief that the gentleman's amendment on coverage, optional coverage of Congress, eliminates, of course, the mandatory coverage but also provides a…

The gentleman keeps characterizing it as the broadest possible, but really and truly, the public interest may well be different from a personal, financial, or political conflict.

I am trying to elevate the threshold that triggers this whole complicated operation. If the gentleman is satisfied to have it based merely on allegations that somebody may make, then the gentleman is welcome. Because it is his party that…

I have always supported an independent counsel bill, and I was one who supported it back in 1978 when it first passed, but it seems to me we should learn something from experience. A mere reauthorization of the law as it has presently…

If the gentleman will yield, on this question of congressional coverage, first of all, we are not talking about 535 Members of Congress. Only in the most generic sense. We are talking about those few about whom specific information of a…

I am just trying to make it mean something, and I just do not think anything other than removal means a great deal. But I accede to the gentleman's argument.

If I can say to my friend I agree. But nothing happened, and these egregious breaches occurred, and the gentleman was not prosecuted. I cannot see the Government, the Justice Department prosecuting an independent counsel. I can see a…