Angie Craig: “But I now speak specifically to the Lieberman-Kerry-Levin amendment of which, if you want to gut a good bill, here is…”

“But I now speak specifically to the Lieberman-Kerry-Levin amendment of which, if you want to gut a good bill, here is where you start. This is the first substantive effort we have seen on the part of the other side to substantially change the course and the direction of this bill. Basically, the private sector has an opportunity to compete with any segment of the public sector, and vice versa. And if you start making all of these broad exceptions, you create gaping holes in this legislation that you can drive billions of dollars through. This amendment says that wherever there may be competition between the private and public sectors, S. 1 would not apply. If this amendment actually did anything to stop the Federal Government from imposing mandates on the private sector, I'd be the first in line to cosponsor it. This amendment would not stop unfunded mandates on the private sector. In fact, it would help Government go on imposing them. As I understand it, since the private sector might conceivably compete for virtually any public sector activity, this amendment would make S. 1 meaningless.”