Pat Roberts

For those of us who opposed the McCain-Feingold bill, it is always an interesting experience to hear concerns being expressed about the current state of our campaign finance system.

I cannot support it.

I would just like to observe that no one spending money exercising their First Amendment rights, to my knowledge, is endorsing fire in theaters or pornography or noise pollution.

I have resigned twice. The resignation has not been accepted by the leadership.

Their time and resources should be dedicated to serving our voting population, not to filling out reports for the Department of Justice.

Wisely, the Commission did not call for federal legislation to implement their recommendations.

We do not need to require every jurisdiction to compile these reports just to get at the few that may be out of compliance.

In spite of my concerns about that section, I believe on balance the bill is worth supporting and I will do so.

The mere filing of a complaint, even a specious one, will generate news coverage.

I want to talk about the long line problem, and we often hear about long lines are the result of some kind of a real plan.

We do have with us today two very well qualified nominees before us.

Do you agree the EAC must operate in a bipartisan fashion?

The Election Assistance Commission has fulfilled its purpose and should be eliminated.

the voters who have voted 45 days early have no chance to factor that in, in regard to the Election Day period.

I only say that it always is of some concern to me that when we go down the road to reform and we wave the banner of reform, we want to see what is underneath it, and I think there is something called the First Amendment there and I want…

I do not know what I have done wrong.

I am a co-sponsor of this bill and ask the other Members to support it. It eliminates an archaic requirement and will help the Senate procure the best products at the lowest cost.

I want to formally acknowledge the great work that the GPO does.

I cannot support moving these nominations forward without any Republican nominees to join them.

They are not moving because they received over 200,000 comments, and by law, you have got to go through them.

I oppose this legislation and intend to vote no. The states are perfectly capable of developing disaster contingency plans without federal compulsion or assistance.

The primary purpose, as I recall, was to distribute grants to States so they can better serve their people.

Imposition of federal requirements, though perhaps well intentioned, could make things worse rather than better.

I am opposed to long lines and people waiting an inordinate amount of time.

The timeframes are likely to result in incomplete reports.