Don Nickles: “I do remember in 1993, I introduced congressional coverage as an amendment on the floor, and I remember Senator…”

“I do remember in 1993, I introduced congressional coverage as an amendment on the floor, and I remember Senator Mitchell, who was then the majority leader of the Senate, objecting, and he was successful in defeating us by a few votes. I also remember the makeup of the vote, and it was predominantly supported by Republicans, predominantly opposed by Democrats. That is history. That was a couple years ago. My point being, history shows, and the Congressional Record will show, many on the Republican side tried to make Congress abide by the laws, and we had a difficult time. I am delighted we passed a bill almost unanimously yesterday. I think that is a good signal. The House did pass it unanimously and, hopefully, the small differences will be resolved in conference. Concerning the unfunded mandates bill, I will just say there may have been objection to considering it on the unanimous-consent request, but many of us wanted to consider it much earlier.”