Bob Kerrey

I would like to note the release of a recent publication that all members of Congress should read. This new publication was produced by the Clean Fuels Development Coalition and it includes a presentation of facts about ethanol-based…

I rise to talk about inter-generational issues related to Federal budget spending. We will never have a better time to consider such issues as inter-generational equity than now during a time of large projected surpluses. These large…

I look at it and I think it is unfair. I hear people say it only affects 2 percent of the population. I say 2 percent are getting the shaft. We ought to still try to help them, whether they are wealthy or not. I don't like the tax. What is…

I believe the estate tax is unfair. I worked with Senator Kyl of Arizona to write a bill to eliminate the estate tax, along with a stepped-up basis for capital gains which I think is reasonable. Unfortunately, there are two problems I have…

a few weeks ago the Senate convened a joint meeting between Democrats and Republicans to receive a classified nuclear briefing from the Department of Defense. The purpose of this bipartisan meeting was for the members of the Senate to get…

I want to take a minute, hopefully for the purpose of influencing the conferees on a vote that was taken yesterday--it passed overwhelmingly--having to do with military retiree benefits. There are two amendments, one offered by Senator…

with great respect to the Senator from Virginia, both the underlying law and his amendment push the President in the wrong direction. Both Russia and the United States have more nuclear weapons than we need. This has been studied to death…

in 1968 I had the good fortune, or misfortune, to be given the chance to go down to Fort Benning and go through Army Ranger School. We had a little joke that was keying in on a line from a John Wayne movie. We looked out in the darkness…

the answer to that is a question back to the Senator from Virginia. If the President is asking for these levels, why would he insist on a prohibition of his going lower? Why is he so concerned he is going to go lower, if the President is…

But I say to the Senator, the question directly is, Do you think Congress should have passed a similar restriction on President Bush so he could not have done what he did in 1991?

May I ask the Senator a question? Do you think that Congress made a mistake not having a similar provision in place so we could have prevented President Bush from taking his action in 1991?

I am not implying a political motivation. I am rereading your answers to my questions yesterday. I saw reason I would support this amendment, and the reason I could have supported the amendment is, if you had said to me, yes, a thoughtful…

first, Congress should be making a decision based upon what we think is right. We oftentimes pass defense authorization bills that have things the President doesn't like. My guess is that the Senator from Virginia has urged the President…

I know that site fairly well. I think it would be a terrific site for history of the Armed Forces, but I also believe oftentimes the most important decisions aren't the decisions the military is making but that the civilians made prior to…

I am pleased to do that. The first question is, Did the Congress do the right thing in 1998 and 1999, and would we be doing the right thing today or in the future to have a statute that imposes upon a President a floor, a limitation, under…

if I could make a comment on that subject, very much a part of this effort to try to find a compromise on this memorial, in the beginning I opposed the design and they redesigned it. I am very pleased now to be able to support both the…

First, I appreciate very much the statement of the Senator from Arizona. We have been together on a number of occasions before the intelligence committee and in the public environment talking about the threat of the missiles, especially…

The Senator's answer is yes, for a new President. He could do it as long as he is satisfied with the definition of ``careful review.'' He could do it prior to December of 2001. According to this amendment, it has to be submitted by 2001…

No. It says concurrent, which, as I read the language of this amendment, would cause me not to vote for it. It doesn't preclude President Clinton or Bush or Gore from saying we can finish that part of the review faster than the rest of the…

By effectively doing that, you are also saying that the current QDR, the current evaluation, is not valid; that the analysis that was done in 1997 by General Shalikashvili is not valid?

My guess is it is pretty close. Public Law 105-85 says: (a) Funding Limitation.--Funds available to the Department of Defense may not be obligated or expended during fiscal year 1998 for retiring or dismantling, or for preparing to retire…

That is an interpretation on which perhaps we should have a colloquy. If we can reach a conclusion that the President could do an effective review in short order, it may be, as I said, that I am going to declare victory and go home and…

That may be what you are endeavoring to do, but I am not sure your amendment does it. You are saying with your amendment that you want to make certain President Clinton cannot do it but future Presidents could.

That is precisely what section 1302 does. Section 1302 says the President cannot go below the START I levels. For the first time, it restricted and tied the hands of a President in his own decisionmaking about strategic forces. That is…

I would be very surprised, if the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in 1997, reviewing the minimal deterrent level, did not reference that minimal deterrent level to the rest of the conventional forces. This is a conventional Army…