Peter Visclosky: “Mr. Chairman, I rise for four purposes. First of all, as the cosponsor of this amendment, I rise to emphasize to the…”

“Mr. Chairman, I rise for four purposes. First of all, as the cosponsor of this amendment, I rise to emphasize to the body that this is a bipartisan proposal authored by the gentleman from Oklahoma [Mr. Istook] as well as myself. My second purpose in rising is to ask that we view this issue on the merits and the factual basis. Such words as intolerance, disgraceful, bitter, mean-spirited, angry, stolen, have all been used today during the debate, but we ought to look at the factual basis as to what the gentleman from Oklahoma [Mr. Istook] and myself want to do. The first thing we want to do is as a national Government, we are asking States and local governments to do more, but we are not providing them in this instance the tools to collect the necessary revenue to proceed. Second, for all those entrepreneurs who want to make a living and pay taxes themselves and support their families, they are placed at a significant competitive disadvantage. That is all we are trying to do. In my remaining time, the fourth point I want to address is what we are not trying to do. The gentleman from Oklahoma [Mr. Istook] and I often disagree. One area we have never disagreed on is the issue of the Constitution of the United States.”