Ted Stevens: “let me say I regret that we include our spouses and our dependent children in legislation like this. I know the current…”

“let me say I regret that we include our spouses and our dependent children in legislation like this. I know the current rule. But, times have changed. People keep telling us times have changed. Our spouses have a right to their own lives. Our children have a right to their own lives. I have to wonder about the statement made by the Senator from Michigan that the judgment will be strictly mine as to whether or not there is a personal relationship. It will not be at all. As the Senator from Arkansas said, someone will bring a claim to the Ethics Committee that my spouse, or my child, took a gift that should not have been taken, and we will have to come forward with the defense that it was from a personal acquaintance based on personal relationship. The statute appears to prohibit such gifts. But then there is the exception. What I am trying to convey is that if we are going to modernize the rule, I believe we ought to modernize our thinking and remember that our spouses are entitled to their lives. Our children are entitled to their lives. They did not run for the Senate. I did. They ought not to be burdened by the approach that is being taken in this bill. My first five children that I raised here in Washington have some rather firm, fixed opinions about the Senate. Some of you ought to inquire from your own children their opinions on these types of rules. I know the impressions that my children have formed about this place.”