William Tauzin: “I want to congratulate all who have played a role in bringing this conference committee forward. When we announced the…”

“I want to congratulate all who have played a role in bringing this conference committee forward. When we announced the formation of our little band of conservative Democrats called the Coalition, we promised America two things. We promised America that we would stand to do the right thing regardless of party or partisanship. We also promised we would try to deliver big bipartisan support for issues of importance to the American public. We delivered on this promise. This bill is hugely supported--360 Members of this House voted for it, 91 Members of the Senate voted for the conference report. Why? Because it is good and right for the country. While we are not worried about who gets particular credit for it, it is important today to remember that it was one of our members, in fact one of our officers in the coalition, the gentleman from California [Mr. Condit] who first created this notion that Congress ought to speak very clearly, that unfunded mandates are wrong, and that we ought to avoid them in the future if we are to have the right kind of relationship between Federal, State, and local governments.”