Rob Portman: “I want to say briefly, because there has been some confusion in some of the discussion, that a ``no'' vote is the right…”

“I want to say briefly, because there has been some confusion in some of the discussion, that a ``no'' vote is the right vote if Members do not want to impose additional mandates on State and local government. There are also huge private sector mandates here which were required to be analyzed by the Unfunded Mandates Relief Act, but a ``no'' vote is the correct vote if Members do not want to impose these additional mandates. In closing, I would just say that this is exactly the kind of debate we hoped to have with the Unfunded Mandates Relief Act. We now have it out in the open. This is an unfunded mandate on State and local government. If Members do not want to impose those mandates, they now have the opportunity to stand up and be counted.”