Well, I understand why the Senator from Tennessee does not want to debate this; because he is wrong. I like him. He is a nice fellow, friendly. Oh, you could not ask anybody to be any friendlier than the Senator from Tennessee. And I have…

The Senator says that this only applies to two States really, or very few. But the precedent here is the dangerous thing. We start under the Buck Act, and I am sure the Senator, being a legal expert, is fully familiar with the Buck Act and…

I appreciate the Senator's flattery, but in this case, it won't get him anywhere. Let me correct one thing, if I can. The Senator said we were exempt from sales tax. That is not true. We checked this morning. You pay tax at restaurants…

had this conference report been on a Senate bill, I would have offered a motion to recommit the bill to conference to strip this special State tax preemption provision from the bill. It is quite unfair, and I think everybody understands…

I also want to make clear to my colleagues that this special tax preemption provision in the bill is a clear violation of the spirit of the Unfunded Mandates Act. I have said that before, but I want to make it clear. This provision will…

apparently all of these requests to the Republican conferees to keep this State preemption provision out of the defense bill fell on deaf ears. The conferees either did not listen or did not care. One way or another, this was a done deal…

I regret that I am here this morning making my remarks, because in this piece of legislation we have preempted the States and their ability to tax. Under the Buck Act, it gave that responsibility to the States. But in here we are…

The State preemption provision in this bill is also strongly opposed by the Federation of Tax Administrators. Let me read from a June 24, 1998 letter from Mr. Harley T. Duncan, the executive director of the Federation of Tax…

I don't understand. They just tried to throw a wet blanket on it to say it was undoing welfare reform because, after we have had it in place for 2 years we found there was a kink in it? I didn't know that we were perfect.

May I say to my good friend, I found the same thing, too. We have several community colleges around the State. I have not talked to an employer yet who said he would not prefer to have an employee that was better educated. I have never…

I rise in support of tax cuts but certainly not in support of this irresponsible plan that has been offered by some of my colleagues on the other side. The money the Republicans plan to use to fund their tax bill is not their money, nor is…

it is difficult for me to respond because it is somewhat melancholy, as this is my last effort at developing an aviation package, to have such kind remarks come from my learned friend who also has worked tirelessly in an attempt to make…

I have learned from those encounters. I believe one of the great learning experiences of my life was in 1990 when Senator Ford was responsible for a massive restructuring of the aviation system in America. The impact of that will be felt…

let me compliment and thank my friend from North Dakota. No one has worked harder or spoken more eloquently in support of the small family farm than the Senator from North Dakota. How well I understand what he is going through. We heard on…

I found out--to validate the point of the Senator from North Dakota--that it costs more to fly from Des Moines, IA, to Chicago, IL, than it does from Chicago, IL, to Tokyo. Now, these distortions have to be fixed because we are penalizing…

I am not going to pursue this issue. Again, I spent too many hundreds of hours working with the Senator from Kentucky for us to end up in some disagreement over an issue such as this before completion of the bill that is called the Wendell…

My friend and colleague is not here, the manager of the bill from the majority side. We have discussed this between us and the Senator's statement, as far as I am concerned, is absolutely true. He has worked hard on it, done a lot of hard…

it is always painful to be against an amendment by one of your colleagues, and particularly a friend. But I think under the circumstances it is a little premature to go with this when the Environment Committee has asked that this come…

I appreciate all the cooperation and good humor that has been displayed as we have moved along the way. I have been impressed by the staff that Senator McCain has assembled to assist him. I have been amazed at the staff that we have, and…

What airports do they go do? Mr. McCAIN. I do not know exactly which airports they go to, although there are some letters of intent that I had printed in the Record. One is the Greater Cincinnati airport, $6 million; and Louisville…

I admire the tenacity and commitment to aviation of the Senator. Also, I have had the privilege of personally experiencing his piloting skills while being with him in the great State of Oklahoma. Although I must admit that my willingness…

I join my chairman in his remarks. I thought they were excellent and to the point. I agree with Senator McCain that we ought to work with the Senator from Oklahoma to see if we can get something in the bill that will at least recognize the…

I thank my friend, Senator McCain, chairman of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. I compliment him on his remarks. I think he fully and fairly explained the legislation that is before the Senate. One of the things I want…

I rise with harboring deep concerns about the utter absence of any accountability in H.R. 3248 which is why I am in support of the amendment of the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Clay). With 3248 I say to the gentleman from New York (Mr…

I rise in support and really I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrich), I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) and I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. McCollum) for the leadership as well as those others, the…