Trent Lott: “I do want to say to the managers that I don't think we should have a lengthy debate this afternoon on this subject. It…”

“I do want to say to the managers that I don't think we should have a lengthy debate this afternoon on this subject. It is one that I could see us spending hours or days on, because there is plenty to talk about. But we need to continue to make an effort to move our appropriations bills. I know the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Treasury and Postal Service, the Senator from Colorado, would like to do that. He and the ranking member from Wisconsin are working hard. But I want to give a few remarks briefly in support of this amendment. I have stayed away from doing that on amendments on appropriations bills because I have been discouraging amendments all along the line. But this is one I feel strongly about. It is also very hard for me to rise in support of an amendment of this nature when the chairman of the Finance Committee is expressing his reservations. But it is totally understandable. He wants to make sure that when we do it, we do it right, and that we develop another tax system that we have thought about. He is doing what you would expect a cautious chairman to do. He takes a back seat to none of us when it comes to finding ways to make the Tax Code fairer and giving tax relief to the American people. Having said that, I think we ought to do it. There is plenty of time here to think about what the alternative is going to be. Four and a half years--how long does it take?…”