Bob Kerrey: “briefly, we are doing something that is unprecedented. The distinguished Senator from Alabama says that the Office of…”

“briefly, we are doing something that is unprecedented. The distinguished Senator from Alabama says that the Office of Government Ethics is unprecedented. It is the only venture that is unprecedented; never in the history of Government have we created an oversight board with these kinds of powers. And we are doing it in order to be able to restructure the IRS in a relatively short period of time. The implications would be rather traumatic for the employees of the IRS. Every private sector person whom we asked the question of--when you go through restructuring--and every public person we asked the advice of said put the rep on the board. This board sunsets in 10 years. We may decide we don't want the board and have another composition. We can revisit it, if you don't want a Treasury employee rep on the board. The Office of Ethics said there are problems here. We have corrected those problems, but they don't want a rep on the board under any circumstances. If you want a rep on the board, you have to vote no on this amendment. Otherwise, this individual is not going to be able to do the job. If you don't have the rep on the board, I think this venture is likely to run aground and not be as successful as all of us want it to be. Mr. President, I yield the remainder of my time. I urge the defeat of this amendment.”