Don Nickles: “this is an amendment on which Senator Reid, myself, and many others in the Senate, including Senator Hutchison, Senator…”

“this is an amendment on which Senator Reid, myself, and many others in the Senate, including Senator Hutchison, Senator Bond, Senator Bumpers, have had a lot of input. We worked on it a lot and actually passed this amendment through the Senate on March 29, 1995, by a vote of 100 to 0. This amendment was in contrast to some legislation that the House passed. The House passed a moratorium on all regulations. We considered in the Senate actually a bill somewhat similar to that, which had passed through the Governmental Affairs Committee. However, this is a substitute. The moratorium would have lasted only until the end of last year; it would have expired December 31, 1995. It would not have an impact today. It might have stopped some regulations that were going forward in that period of time. This legislation, though, will be permanent law. We did pass it with bipartisan support. I thank Senator Reid. It is not often that we have bipartisan support on legislation that will really have a significant impact. I am glad we have it in the legislation that Senator Bond and Senator Bumpers had, the so-called reg flex proposal, and also the congressional review proposal that Senators Reid, Hutchison, and myself are pushing today. This legislation, instead of having a moratorium, we will have a permanent law that says Congress should review all new regulations.”