John Kerry: “Mr. President, since 1995, we have voted to waive the Budget Act 105 times. Now, we have heard debate here on the floor…”

“Mr. President, since 1995, we have voted to waive the Budget Act 105 times. Now, we have heard debate here on the floor of the Senate for 3 rac{1}{2} ext{ weeks, and }$40 million ext{ has been spent telling America there is a tax increase in here. Nineteen members of the Commerce Committee--19 to 1--voted to send this bill to the floor of the Senate with a }$1.10 ext{ price increase in it. That is the revenue that is raised by this bill. The Senator from New Mexico does not tell you that every single penny that is contemplated to be spent in this bill is offset--it is offset. It was the Republican leader who put into this bill the Lugar amendment that competes with the Ford amendment, which everybody knows has to be resolved one way or the other before this bill could finally be signed into law. So this is a charade. This is a charade. We have all learned that you can always find an excuse and a way to use the Budget Act to accomplish your goals. But if you measure what has happened here, there was an effort by Democrats to raise the price. It failed. That should have helped the bill pass. There was an effort to have a cap on the damages, but it was a Republican Senator who brought the amendment to get rid of it. And more Republicans voted to get rid of that cap restraint than Democrats. Once again, the Republicans had their hand and their way. Then there was the look-back amendment.”