Bill Bennett: “Again I witness this clash between great legal minds. Yet, I am informed by a number of other legal minds the Kerry…”

“Again I witness this clash between great legal minds. Yet, I am informed by a number of other legal minds the Kerry amendment would, in fact, destroy the effect of the bill. As a businessman, I always ended up asking my legal team whether it was appropriate for me to sign a particular lease or contract. I had to learn to depend on good lawyers. I think we have hired good lawyers in this situation and I am accepting their advice. I am moved by the eloquence of my friend from Massachusetts, but I shall not vote with him. I want to once again focus on what it is we are doing here. We are dealing with a unique situation the likes of which we have never seen in international commerce and probably never will see again. That is why specific legislation is necessary. Let me go back to a statement made by my friend from Massachusetts in the earlier debate when he said: We want people to be driven to examine their inventory to make sure it is compliant, but if the liability is limited they will not do that. This is not a question of examining your inventory to make sure it is compliant. We are already getting examples of people who have done everything prudent and possible to make sure that things were compliant with Y2K, only to discover after they had done everything prudent that it still didn't work. There are bugs hidden in this kind of problem that cannot in reasonable fashion be discovered in advance.”