Pete Domenici: “I waited on the floor to see if Senator Kennedy was coming back, and I am glad he is here, because I have reviewed this…”

“I waited on the floor to see if Senator Kennedy was coming back, and I am glad he is here, because I have reviewed this as best I can and I am going to support the amendment that Senator Nickles has offered. There is a very good argument that can be made that, in fact, this request that the administration puts forth in a two-thirds sheet of paper, may be justified. Let me suggest there is equal reason to say the administration has done a very poor job of preparing for the implementation the law has referred to with reference to access, with reference to portability, and with reference to another law that is different from that that has to do with mental parity. As a matter of fact, it seems to this Senator that if Senator Nickles prevails--and I don't know whether he will or not--HCFA ought to get the message that they have two very difficult statutes to enforce and they ought to get ready for enforcing them in an orderly manner, not to come up here 6 months into a year with a request that all of a sudden they found out that they may have to enforce, because of the absence of State willingness, they may have to enforce in a number of States.”