Don Nickles

If somebody is activated and they go to Afghanistan or Iraq, don't they receive full health care costs without paying the 28 percent?

Is there any job in the Federal Government where an individual would work 2 days a month and receive $7,000 or $5,000 worth of benefits in health care?

I clarify something for my colleague's amendment on cost. Her proposal in February was estimated by CBO to be $5.4 billion, but that proposal expired in June. This one expires in November. This one is retroactive. The one in February was…

I believe you do provide trade adjustment assistance to workers in companies where it is 20 percent and you are looking backward to see whether they qualify.

I have asked our staff the answer to that question and it came back that a person only had to work 26 weeks of the previous 52 to qualify for the benefit.

I have a couple of comments. I heard a statement in the budget debate on the floor. I would say, my staff has compiled the amount of spending that was in the amendments that were debated on the floor. Our Democrat colleagues offered…

I thank Senate Domenici for his statement. This is a tough issue, and I want him to know that I understand the dilemma he is facing. I appreciate his willingness to work with me on this, and I give him my commitment to support a level of…

Tempers are starting to rise. This is not good for the cause. We are very close to the finish line. Senator Conrad and I have been working together very closely. We have agreed to a sense-of-the-Senate resolution by Senator Lugar and an…

I hope we do not need reconciliation to pass a debt limit. I do know it is important to pass a debt limit. This is a political season. Maybe people want to play games with it and offer unlimited amendments. I do not know that we would do…

This is another one of these amendments-- we have had a dozen of them now--that says we are going to pay for this by increasing taxes on wealthy people. I don't know how many times we have to vote on it. Then I look at the spending. It…

This amendment would do one thing. It would increase taxes by $39 billion over 5 years. That is really half of what we are assuming we are going to do to help American families. So this is going to cut the tax cut. That will mean, to…

My staff informs me it would increase from $4,050 to $5,100 under the Senator's amendment, and that would increase the cost by 48.2 percent. It is not just the maximum amount of the award. The maximum amount of the award would be going up…

We are continuing the assault on taxpayers. Next, in the not too distant future, we are going to be voting on a lot of tax increases. This would increase taxes by $13.7 billion and increase spending by $6.8 billion. That is a 40-percent…

If we do not extend them, it is going to be a tax increase on American families. We are trying to protect American families. We are basically saying over $13 trillion in spending and about $12 trillion in revenues. The only thing we are…

The loopholes we are closing basically will pay for extending present law. What we assumed in this budget resolution is continuation of present law, plus the AMT fix.

With this additional money, it is a 40.6-percent increase. For everybody who says we want to balance the budget, how do you balance the budget and simultaneously increase programs by 40 percent? This fictitious point of let's close…

But that is not what this amendment does. That is the purpose. The amendment says: ``On page 3, line 10, increase the amount by $13.2 billion.'' That is increasing taxes, an instruction to the Finance Committee.

I thought I heard my colleague say you were opposed to these increase in copays. I was trying to make sure you are aware we did not assume an increase. We did not have that in our budget. I wanted to make sure you knew that. If you didn't…

Our resolution, to answer my colleague's question, has a $1.4 billion increase in VA care. It assumes an increase in VA--and it is mandatory--from $61 billion to $70 billion--a 14.3 percent increase, so my colleague will know.

I wanted to clarify. I heard my colleague say increase in copays. You are aware, I am sure, under the resolution we are not assuming any increase in copay for categories 7 or 8, and we are also not assuming the $250 deductible.

I believe I heard my good colleague and friend from Wisconsin, a member of the Budget Committee--and I have worked with him on some issues and amendments--say this is only a tax increase on millionaires, but I read the resolution. It says…

I find it so political, it is debasing to the Senate. I guess people have a right to do that, but enough is enough. Let's stay with the business at hand instead of trying to score political points. I urge our colleagues to do that. I have…

What we are doing with the excess money is exactly what the law states. According to the statute, it says you buy T-bills with it, and that is exactly what we are doing with the surplus.

I concur with my colleague, Senator Conrad. He is exactly right. The Senate can manage debate on the Senate resolution and conduct itself much better than we have in the past. Senator Conrad has been very helpful in making that happen. I…

My colleague mentioned the Workforce Investment Act that passed unanimously through the Senate and for whatever reasons our colleagues on the minority side have not agreed to the appointment of conferees. This is a bill that would help…