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Tina Elizabeth Smith is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Minnesota since January 3, 2018. A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, she has focused on issues such as healthcare, education, and economic equity during her time in office. Smith previously served as the Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota from 2015 to 2018, where she worked on initiatives to improve access to healthcare and support for families and children.
in addition to the Superfund Accelerated Cleanup bill, I would also like to introduce today a targeted Resource Conservation and Recovery Act--or ``rick-ra''--reform bill. I offer this bill in the hopes that it will supplement and enhance…
when the Superfund Program was enacted in 1980, it was expected that only a few hundred sites would need to be cleaned up, at a relatively modest cost. Today, we know those expectations were misguided. There are more than 1,300 sites on…
as chairman of the Acquisition and Technology Subcommittee, I have been charged with overseeing of the technology base programs in the defense budget request for fiscal year 1996. The technology base budget includes funding for the basic…
The bill before us delivers on each of the priorities that were developed by Senator Thurmond and members of the committee. In fact, every element of the list is embodied in direct actions taken by the committee. We made a commitment, and…
Mr. President, the other side in this debate, Senator Levin and others, assert that somehow this bill is going to violate the ABM Treaty or require us to violate the ABM Treaty. Those are the terms that we have heard used--violate or…
we have accepted the amendment. The Senator from New Jersey has mentioned his amendment is a special situation in New Jersey. We are aware of this. It was the spirit and intent of the compromise language in the bill to deal with those…
This legislation does not impose flow control. Flow control is fundamentally incompatible with the principles of free enterprise, market competition, and the best interest of the consumer. Requiring the use of flow control would be a step …
I have stated before that I am not in favor of flow control. Flow control is anticompetitive. But it is only fair and equitable that communities that have indebted themselves--completely within the law prior to the Supreme Court…
I totally agree with what the Senator from Arizona is trying to do. I have made my statement here on the floor regarding this issue in the opening debate on the bill that I oppose flow control. I think that the interstate commerce clause…
The Senators from Virginia are correct. This legislation is not intended to expand a local government's flow-control authority beyond that permitted under existing State law.
Yes, the interstate title gives the Governor of Pennsylvania and the Governors of other affected States authority to ensure that their States do not continue as unabated dumping grounds for States which do not act to site their own…
Yes. If the majority leader will yield, the majority leader is correct. I think if the bill does not get completed this week because these amendments do not get offered, they are jeopardizing the things we are trying to accomplish. We are…
I thank Chairman Chafee. Mr. President, this bill is a compromise bill. It is not going to please everyone, and maybe that is the reason why it is a good piece of legislation, I do not know. But a little more than 2 months ago, the…
I thank Senator Chafee for making that point. He is correct. This is not a partisan issue. It is a carefully crafted compromise to try to accommodate some genuine concerns out there among many individuals. Again, in the Senate, controlled…
I rise today to salute CWO-2 Peter A. Davis, who died April 24, 1995, in a helicopter crash in Williamson County, TX. The accident that took the life of this fine man was a terrible tragedy for his family and for all those who knew him…
the amendment is a very simple amendment. It simply says the circus can proceed on the Capitol Grounds without the use of elephants. Now, this is the type of amendment that tends to bring some ridicule of me by others who have in some way…
Mr. President, I rise in very strong support of the amendment offered by the Senator from North Carolina. I am deeply troubled by some of the comments that I have seen in the press yesterday and today in that apparently President Clinton…
If Congress controls the purse strings, I say to the Senator from West Virginia, and the national debt increased $3 trillion during those years, how can we blame the President? I mean, whose responsibility is it?
What I said is there are two options. One, those people, if they had the three-fifths provision, I think, would have looked at it a lot differently, and they may have gotten more votes. Let us assume the Senator's position and say that did…
It did not say waive it. ``The committee intends that ordinary and prudent preparations for a war perceived by Congress to be imminent would be funded fully * * *'' There is nothing to waive.
If I might just respond to the Senator, his point is well taken. However we have a situation where I think we are mixing apples and oranges. The Senator is assuming--we did not have an amendment at the time, we did not have a $5 trillion…
The Founding Fathers also provided for an amendment process to the Constitution because they knew that it would need that flexibility, because it could not predict the future nor foresee the future. This debate is, essentially, a…
One final question. Under your definition of ``exemption,'' if Social Security and other entitlements get to 100 percent of the budget, do you still support the exemption?
That is what is going to threaten the national security of the United States of America, not a constitutional amendment to balance the budget.
Is that not ordinary and prudent preparations for war? Yes, that is ordinary and prudent.
Politicians like Tina Smith
