John Sarbanes

We would welcome you. You would be a valuable addition to the committee, and you can see the inner dynamics of the committee that result in the kind of problem we are now facing on the floor of the Senate. It would be welcomed for you to…

When we come in with 88 people on one side of the equation, if the 11 are going to hold us hostage or some of the 11 hostage--actually the word ``extortion'' was used in another context in the debate on the floor of the Senate.

Let me also point out to the majority leader that the effort to try to develop accommodations has to be a broad-based effort.

I concur with my colleagues. Drug Elimination Grant funds have proven to be an extremely effective tool in fighting drugs and crime in public housing. This provision will enable housing authorities with significant needs to implement…

I think the Financial Services Act of 1998, which has been brought out of the Senate Banking Committee, is a carefully balanced piece of legislation. It would finally respond to an issue we have been wrestling with for years and years. I…

So, the question arises: How may the NCUA deal with this issue while implementing the bill's safety and soundness provisions? In my view, the NCUA should be mindful of community development credit unions' unique circumstances in applying…

The bill gives all credit unions two years before these provisions become effective. Because of their mission and the special characteristics that arise from that mission, some community development credit unions may have unique…

I can't control the comments of the street protester, just like I can't control the comments of some of my colleagues on the Senate floor, since this is a free country with free speech.

Rural Americans need tools of the Community Reinvestment Act to ensure accountability of their local lending institutions. It is needed to prevent rural banks from abandoning their commitment to serve the millions of Americans living in…

Very briefly, if we were seeking to leave the consumer or the user of the credit union exactly in the posture in which they now find themselves prior to the Supreme Court decision, we would have no limitation on credit union business…

The committee crossed that threshold, as it were, by its decision. And I would reflect that here. I do think there are some of our colleagues in this body that do not think there should be limits. They do not concede the point that the…

I want to make the observation that I think there are some of my colleagues who believe there should not be any limits.

I say to my colleague, as I understand it, this is what transpired. The 1995 act was being interpreted at the district court level, the Federal district court level--the legislative history of it--that the act's pleading standards…

That is right. If you want to talk about where you put the balance, how in the world would you drive the balance so far over that an investor who was the victim of reckless conduct would not have a remedy? It just defies any equitable…

Much will be made during the debate on this bill of the support it is asserted it enjoys from the Securities and Exchange Commission. But it seems to me that citing the support of the SEC tells only part of the story--only part of the…

A number of groups representing State and Government officials, including the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, the Government Finance Officers Association, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, oppose this…

The Senator made that point in the opening debate on this issue where the Senator spoke about, I thought in a very perceptive way, what was important. What are your goals? What are your objectives that are going to be focused upon in the…

Of course, when we go into the international environmental conferences, they say, ``You are the biggest offender,'' because we are the most highly developed country and, therefore, we are put on the defensive in trying to get an agreement…

Many people have said these are not really trade agreements that are being negotiated, or the impetus for them is not trade; it is investment. These are investment agreements. Among other things, a result of these agreements is extended…

Actually, at the very point when we have something we can use as leverage to get the higher standard, which is access into the American market, we are refusing to do it in order to achieve greater equalization of these environmental…

The reason we put in the environmental standards is we went through a long debate that indicated we were paying a very heavy health cost because we didn't have clean air and clean water. So we made the effort to get clean air and clean…

Since 1974, our trade deficit on merchandise goods is $1.8 trillion. In just over 20 years, $1.8 trillion. Up until 1975 we had been running modest surpluses every year in our merchandise trade deficit. So there has been a dramatic…

What do you do when you don't have a budget deficit and you are still running large trade deficits?

I am sorry. You have an improvement in the trade deficit when the deficit was going up. Then here the deficit has been coming down, the domestic deficit, yet the trade deficit has been worsening.

I say to the Senator, if he is supporting fast track, he is the one who wants to try the same thing because this was all under fast track.