Don Nickles: “negotiations are underway right now to see if we cannot come to a closure on Senator Hutchison's amendment. I think…”

“negotiations are underway right now to see if we cannot come to a closure on Senator Hutchison's amendment. I think there is general agreement that her amendment is needed. I happen to share that concern. I am happy to be a cosponsor of it. I hope maybe we can alleviate some of the concerns that were raised legitimately by Senator Biden and Senator Levin and pass that amendment. Those negotiations may be going on for a few more minutes. So I would hope that we could move ahead on a couple of other things. I know Senator Kennedy mentioned yesterday that he has an OSHA amendment, that he would like to exempt OSHA. I hope he will bring that to the floor. I hope we can have a vote very quickly on Senator Domenici's amendment which he raised, and it was debated last night. So I would let people know that hopefully we will have soon a vote on the Domenici amendment. I hope Senator Kennedy will bring his amendment to the floor very soon and that we can begin debate on it and hopefully have a vote on it after a short discussion. Maybe a time limit with be necessary on that. Possibly by that time we will have the negotiations completed on the amendment offered by Senator Hutchison. I think her amendment is needed. I also think it is well drafted. Maybe we can solve some of the ambiguities on it. But it is important to let people know that, if they rely on an agency ruling, that ruling made sense and there will not be a retroactive application of a fine or a penalty.”