John Danforth

He was creating an event. He was doing, by his action, he was creating a time and a place that would be the focal point for what turned out to be the darkest day in American history.

American politics is too polarized as it is.

Section 401(b) of this legislation states that: It is the policy of the United States that further releases of lead into the environment should be minimized, and methods should be developed and implemented to reduce sources of lead that…

I might suggest to the Senator from Michigan, it is enough to persuade the yet unpersuaded to retire.

I have another concern which I consider significant. Ordinarily, the law gives actions of State or local governments a presumption of validity. This legislation does not. In fact, it says that the Secretary must issue an order preventing…

My concern is that in imposing a freeze, the Secretary be extremely cognizant of the consequences to the bond market. I would not want to see an airport's bond ratings impaired as a result of a freeze.

This legislation gives the Transportation Secretary emergency authority to find an airport rate increase on airlines to be unreasonable. The Secretary, in reviewing whether a fee is reasonable, as I understand it, would have the ability to…

The planned short increases will enable a substantially higher Federal investment in technology with strong commercial application as called for by the Clinton Administration's economic plan. I do think it is a difference in economic…

This letter is to confirm that the National Venture Capital Association is adamantly opposed to the venture capital provision contained in Section 306 of S. 4. As the President-Elect of NVCA, Patricia Cloherty, stated in a letter dated…

Well, I do not want to miscast or in any way misrepresent what this is about. The way the Senator has put the issue has to do with increased spending. I believe that the argument would be made that this is called investment and that…

That is correct. The authorization for 1995 is $1.370 million and in 1996, it is $1.478 billion; the grand total being $2.8 billion. It is the contention of this Senator that that reflects a ballooning of the cost of these programs, and…

Well, as I understand the argument in favor of the legislation, with the cutbacks in national defense and the cutbacks in spending for research in national defense, we have created a pocket of money which is now burning a hole in that…

This year, 1994, the appropriation for all these programs combined is $526 million. The President has requested for all of these programs $964 million. This is an authorization for 1995 for $1.370 billion.

I do not agree with S. 4 because I think that it is industrial policy. I believe that industrial policy is an issue which should be debated before our country, as well as before the Senate. I do not believe that the Department of Commerce…

It is unconstitutional to require somebody to say a prayer. But anybody who wants to utter a prayer has a constitutional right to utter that prayer. I am not talking about officially mandated prayer. Nobody is discussing that.

As I understand it, I do not believe that the Supreme Court has ruled out the possibility of silent prayer. This is not limited to silent prayer.

A school can certainly say we are not going to have prayer in classrooms during school right now, as of now, until we pass this.

Well, the Senator is correct in the fact that there are some people who are really enthusiastic about we in Washington having just wonderful wisdom to tell people what to do. The idea that the power of the purse can be used by Washington…

You would then be solving a big problem at the end of this amendment. That is clear. You would still have the primary problem with the amendment; namely, this is the problem of Uncle Sam, we in the Senate, making a decision relating to the…

The school district clearly can put limits on unconstitutional prayer, but prayer is not unconstitutional. There is no such thing as an unconstitutional prayer, that I know. The question is, are there reasonable limits to prayer that could…

This says that the school district cannot put those limitations on, and if it tries to, it will lose its money.

But if the Senator will yield, a prayer that is out loud is not constitutionally prohibited. A prayer that is out loud is clearly permitted under the Constitution, but that does not mean that any schoolchild at any time of day during the…

I will point out this amendment, as the amendment is written, will clearly permit a child to disrupt a class. The Helms amendment says specifically that the school board cannot, and I quote ``influence the form or content of any prayer in…

Does the Senator believe that the Constitution now says that school districts must allow voluntary prayer in their school?