John Sarbanes

Were any other countries encompassed within your Silk Road strategy that are imposing a blockade on their neighbors the way Azerbaijan is on Armenia?

Absolutely. Because the Senator gives the administration a blank check. No administration is going to spurn that. Every administration, if you offer them a blank check, is going to take it. They would be fools not to. Obviously they are…

I listened to my colleague with interest. First of all, I find it intriguing he finds himself so supportive of the administration in this instance. Let me ask my colleague this question. Does he know of any administration that would not…

I suggest to the chairman, maybe if we take about 5 or 10 minutes to engage in a discussion with the people who have these amendments, we can find a way to perhaps accept some of them and go to conference with them at least and deal with…

I commend the able Senator from South Dakota because the amendment, as he was going to originally propose it, included this closing of the unitary thrift company loophole but maintained the existing law on the differential payment by the…

In fact, unless we do this, you could have a bank in substantial noncompliance with respect to the CRA test which would then be able to reach out and exercise these additional powers?

Which in fact has been strongly urged by a number of the community groups that are supportive of CRA. They in effect want to extend it out. If that were to be done, I would recognize that as an expansion, and we could fight that issue, as…

Isn't it also the case, I ask the Senator, that in the mid-1990s, when a number of banks were complaining about the regulatory burden associated with CRA, Secretary Rubin undertook a major effort to address the question of regulatory…

The chairman corrects me and says ``more than a scintilla.'' I don't know how much more, but more than a scintilla. In any event, isn't it the case that no full hearings have been held on CRA? We come to the floor, and we get all of these…

I think that is an extremely important point. The chairman has said they have court opinions. I have not seen these cases that interpret ``substantial'' to mean ``a scintilla of evidence.''

Wouldn't he read the phrase ``substantial, verifiable information'' as a more exacting standard than ``scintilla'' of evidence?

First of all, I commend the able Senator from Nevada for an extremely fine statement in support of this amendment which I very strongly back. The Senator made reference--I think it is an extremely important point--to the fact that the…

A lot of money, but there is a big difference between a billion and a trillion. That is one of the problems with this debate, I underscore.

My arithmetic--first of all, I do not concede the figures. In any event, even if I accept them, it is 1 billion, not 1 trillion.

Finally, let me simply say, as the Democratic leader indicated, unless we can get the substitute in place, we are on a veto track with S. 900. The substitute will eliminate the veto problem. So, for those who want legislation, who want to…

I remember people would say that the Japanese had all the largest banks in the world and they were saying, look. And now look at the situation.

I think both of those propositions, the proposal in the committee and the bill, went too far, and I think the Senator is prepared to concede they went too far because they would have wiped out existing regulations--not just proposed…

Just briefly the other question, I have been watching what has been going on. I am not on a committee with direct jurisdiction here, but I was prompted to speak by the fact that in this game of delay and blockage we are now dragging in…

I am simply addressing the fact that it was introduced into this debate by others. I do not think it should be here, frankly.

I desire to speak about the extremes to which the other side will go to frustrate the opportunity to consider significant educational initiatives on this bill by now bringing into consideration subject matter completely extraneous to…

I want to add that there was a time not too far back when Maryland and Virginia watermen used to shoot at each other on the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. I am happy to report that has never been the tenor of the relationship…

Very simply, this is a sense-of-the-Congress resolution that there should be parity between the adjustments and the compensation of members of the uniformed services and the adjustments and the compensation of civilian employees of the…

If I recall the chart that the Senator earlier displayed on juvenile crime, it peaks in the hours I think between about 3 and 8 p.m., which makes the after-school programs extremely important.

It was designed to improve the quality of math and science teachers in the classroom. Now we are being told we are trying to direct where the funds should go. The first point I want to make is that this has a long pedigree coming right…

I think there have been very reasonable efforts to reach an accommodation. They have not really gotten anywhere. If the Senator intends, in the name of accommodation, to make very substantial and substantive changes, then obviously a lot…