Bob Kerrey: “I quite agree. Not only is it a contract case, but the decision by the D.C. Court of Claims is on appeal. We do not know…”

“I quite agree. Not only is it a contract case, but the decision by the D.C. Court of Claims is on appeal. We do not know what the outcome is going to be. It was a specific contract that was signed between the Government and these businesses. They have a legitimate case that they are making that a contract was broken. If the takings argument is going to provoke a fear every single time Congress proposes a change in the law, it is going to make it awfully difficult for Congress to do the very thing that the Senator from Texas, the Senator from Maryland, and the Banking Committee is proposing to us, which is that we ought to modernize our banking system. There will be losers as a consequence. Can you imagine coming to the floor and saying, we cannot pass fast track? There are losers when we have free trade. So if I vote for fast track, and we give the President normal trade negotiating authority, and somebody loses, can they file a claim as a consequence and say I have taken their property? No. So I appreciate very much some of the other arguments the Senator from Texas is making, but I think the takings argument would cause this Congress a great deal of difficulty. In fact, we should withdraw the bill altogether if takings is the concern that we have, because there will be losers.”