Barney Frank

My only question is why is the gentleman not willing to let the American people decide that by a majority? The gentleman may be right or wrong substantively, but why this fear of letting the majority decide by majority rule?

Is the chairman of the Committee on Rules telling us that in his judgment now, the motion to recommit, which has 10 minutes of debate and which is often cast in a very partisan way, and it is better than nothing.

It is the intention of the chairman, if he is reappointed as a manager, and I think the early returns are looking good, he is ahead in the exit polls, if he is reappointed as a manager, it is his intention to continue to press for a full…

A vote to reappoint this set of managers is a vote for a trial. It is a vote against the efforts to short-circuit it. It is clearly a statement that the Senate ought to go ahead and call the witnesses. And Members who vote for it have…

As I read this, I do not believe filtering equipment would be a complete affirmative defense, as I read the line about affirmative defenses. But I then had a question. It says material that is harmful to minors, and I gather in a picture…

I did want to say that the ranking member of the full Committee on the Judiciary, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), is in Michigan today because it is primary day in Michigan, and only that kept him from being here. The gentleman…

Yes, I agree. Government regulation often has the effect of unburdening people who should not be burdened.

I know we are trying to reach common ground here, but that simply defies the English language. What we did with PMI was a government regulation of a private operation. Now, I agree it was beneficial. I had always been for it. But it was…

I simply want to say to my friend from California (Mr. Thomas) and I was going to ask him: I heard him say that anyone who is serious about an amendment should come to him. As I looked at the list of amendments and at the people who…

Apparently by ``antics,'' and let us be very clear, he refers to the antics on our side. ``Antics'' apparently is the gentleman's phrase for defeating amendments aimed at killing the bill. Certainly the antics have consisted of defeating…

Let me respond. I would say to the gentleman, Mr. Chairman, that the price paid to the farmer is not the only price. There are processing costs, there are trucking costs, there are costs in having the store, and I know the gentleman is…

I share with him, and want to put it on the record, I share with the gentleman that the current structure of the Federal prison industries is not appropriate. I do not think the mandatory source rule is a good idea to continue. I do think…

I ask the gentleman, he has made a fundamental confusion here. The constitutional amendment and the Shays-Meehan bill do different things, and no one has been arguing, prior to the gentleman from Texas, and I do not underestimate the…

I think we ought to have that down on the record, that his view is that an across-the-board cut is simply for the purpose of making a political statement and is apparently never a serious legislative answer.

My question was this: You said that because we have a committee composed of intelligent, patriotic Americans, we should not be for an across-the-board cut. My recollection is that in the past, the gentleman from Illinois has voted for…

Let me say to the gentleman, the basic point I want to make is it seems to me very much a partial picture to talk about the reduction in the defense spending without talking about the concomitant reduction in the need for defense spending…

I agree that Mr. Eizenstat has done yeoman's work and that the Secretary of State has done whatever the semantic equivalent of yeoman's work is.

I would look forward, as I think many on our side would, and I know the ranking member would, we would love to reexamine the RICO statute across the board and deal with abuses, and on that basis I thank the gentleman and we will be…

In fact, if you are a corporation trying to make a profit, which most corporations do, you are not covered by this amendment. That is true. If you have a profit-making corporation that is selling girl scout cookies, they could not be…

We do not serve the cause of justice by confusing unhappiness with particular judges and particular decisions with the functions of the judiciary. The gentleman is making a valiant effort to protect that function. I hope that in some other…

I do not think where we are talking about conscious misbehavior that violates the rights of nonviolent criminals. What we are talking about is saying if you have prison officials who are consciously abusing the rights of nonviolent felons…

This amendment does not affect any court action brought against prison officials that might violate the criminals' rights or even prison conditions. There are other kinds of remedies that can come into play here. What we are just saying is…

I think the issue is not that my friend didn't go to law school, the question is in what language did he not go to law school, because I am talking about English here; not law. What I am talking about is the phrase that says you cannot…

No, because the gentleman is wrong in the description of his amendment. In the first place, there are nonviolent felons other than drug dealers. There are people who committed insurance fraud; there are people who cheated on their taxes…

My colleague said that there is an exception for criminal, but let me read what might be more relevant here, the title of her amendment as she wrote it: Parent/Child Testimonial Privileges in Federal Civil and Criminal Proceedings. If the…