Don Nickles: “the amendment that I have before the Senate, cosponsored by myself, Senator Jeffords, and Senator Craig basically would…”

“the amendment that I have before the Senate, cosponsored by myself, Senator Jeffords, and Senator Craig basically would say that the taxpayers would not have to pay for a subsequent Teamsters election. The last one cost $22 million, and only 500,000 people voted. My amendment does not prohibit supervision. There can still be supervision. My amendment says that if the President certifies to Congress that the Teamsters don't have the money for the election, taxpayers could pay for it, but the Teamsters would have to pay it back, and pay it back with interest. I might mention, in 1991, there was an election that the taxpayers didn't pay for, supervised by the Government, and it was fair, it worked. In 1996, the election was supervised and paid for by the taxpayers, and there was corruption. It was a mistake and we should not repeat that mistake. This would protect taxpayers and, in my opinion, the Teamsters as well.”