Max Baucus: “I do not want to prolong this too much longer. Essentially, the Senator from New Hampshire said this bill does not go…”

“I do not want to prolong this too much longer. Essentially, the Senator from New Hampshire said this bill does not go into the difficult question of what is and what is not an unfunded mandate. That is very true. That is clear. This bill does not go into that point, and very precisely because it is a very complex, difficult morass to decide. The effect of the Senator's amendment is to give lawyers a field day in finding one way or another, in claiming for one reason or another, that this requirement, for this technology, in this community is not fully funded by Uncle Sam. I can think of countless numbers of arguments that attorneys can make. Therefore, Mr. President, this amendment essentially renders useless, Federal enforcement because if it is a long, complex system, there will be endless litigation as to whether or not there is full funding of the mandate. I might also say, Mr. President, that we have gone a long way to find new dollars to fund mandates.”