Frank Lautenberg: “Frankly, in discussions that we have been having informally, it is my understanding that this amendment not only is…”

“Frankly, in discussions that we have been having informally, it is my understanding that this amendment not only is opposed by me on behalf of the Democrats but also is opposed by the Republican management, and I certainly hope so because this is outside certainly the structure of this budget resolution. We are, Mr. President, working with a set of estimates. That is the best that can be done. One cannot put this into concrete and say that absolutely at the end of your fiscal year 1998 or even at the end of the fiscal year 1997, which is relatively imminent, we are going to be able to precisely gauge exactly what the outcome is going to be. It cannot happen. So we are working with estimates. But there is something else we are working with, and that is the good faith of the institution. I have heard it said on this floor in recent moments that the implication is that we in this body can't be trusted.”