Don Nickles: “the amendment I send to the desk on behalf of myself and Senator Jeffords is an amendment that deals with the potential…”

“the amendment I send to the desk on behalf of myself and Senator Jeffords is an amendment that deals with the potential rerun of the 1996 Teamsters election. I think most of my colleagues are aware the Teamsters election, which was held in 1996, has now been held invalid, at least by the administrator overseeing the election who determined that there was fraud, that there was corruption, and that there needed to be another election. She has now made that petition before the U.S. district court. The court will rule on that. My guess is she will probably order another election. The purpose of this is to ensure that taxpayers won't pay for the next election. To give my colleagues a little history of how the U.S. taxpayers paid for the last one, I have heard estimates of around $22 million. I also heard more than $22 million, maybe higher or closer to $28 or $29 million, but the taxpayers paid millions of dollars, $20 million-some for the 1996 Teamsters election. Now it seems that the Federal overseer of that election says it was not fair, it was not right, there was corruption, it needs to be held over again. The purpose of this amendment is to say that taxpayers will not pay for it again. I might mention, somebody said why would taxpayers pay for it in the first place? Mr. President, 99 percent of all union elections that are held in this country, the U.S. taxpayer does not pay for.”