Don Nickles

Maybe that is in Massachusetts, I am not sure. But the Federal Government should not be insuring those million dollar homes. So we have a maximum limit to make sure the federal government doesn't insure million dollar homes. The bottom…

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma has brought to my attention concerns relating to the Food Distribution Program for Indian Reservation (FDPIR) program administered by the Department of Agriculture. Specifically, USDA regulations prohibit…

I will respond to a couple of comments made by my colleague and friend from Massachusetts. One, he is absolutely, totally, completely wrong on many of the statements that he made, particularly in saying the Republican leadership wouldn't…

I compliment my colleague. I am disappointed in the minority leader's statement, and also its tone. A lot of us came back from the one-week break for the Fourth of July and said we have work to do, we have appropriations bills to pass, we…

In the proposal, in the amendment that we have pending, the fines that are brand specific go up to $5 billion. They are also indexed for inflation. That is a pretty big penalty. Then there is a $2.2 billion look-back that applies…

I don't like his bill. I don't like the procedure by which the bill is being considered, and I was involved in the procedure. Senator Lott asked me to head up the task force to try to put this bill together. Senator McCain, and the…

I am also going to insert a table that shows new tax assessments and penalties that are in this bill. The national tobacco settlement trust fund is what I am going to talk about now. This is the trust fund, the big kahuna. There are a lot…

I am troubled by these games. I am troubled by people saying, oh, here is what the bill says and then to play games maybe late at night, Sunday night, Monday night, and have this bill written by the administration. This is not a Commerce…

There is a Scientific Advisory Committee, there is a National Tobacco Free Education Advisory Board. That concludes this list. And we haven't found them all yet. Since we also added the Lugar amendment, there are several provisions, some…

Let me go to that, and I appreciate the Senator's comments because I knew the bill's proponents would say my numbers don't assume a volume adjustment. The administration, when they did their projection to come up with a $516 billion price…

Now, are we going to pass that? I know I saw an ad by Dr. Koop saying we need to. I love Dr. Koop. I know he is very sincere. But I don't think you have to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to go after teenage consumption of tobacco or…

The spending side of this equation, I mentioned it has a couple of entitlements. The States get 40 percent of revenues. We tell the States: You have to spend half of it as the Clinton administration decreed. You have to spend half as they…

This joint tax report, which I have been asking for every day, is dated May 20, yesterday. They didn't have this information before. No one has had a chart on what they thought the industry adjustment would be, but let me just give the…

I said, all of this money would be going into the trust fund. That was the way it was designed as it passed the Commerce Committee initially. The Commerce Committee now says the net revenues from this large payment goes into the trust…

I wish to address the amendment by my friends and colleagues from Illinois, Ohio, and Oregon dealing with increasing the look-back penalties. I made a statement earlier today that I think the look-back provision in this bill is one of the…

I appreciate the correction. Let me make the comment, Mr. President. In every State in the Nation it is unlawful to purchase cigarettes.

I will be happy to tell my colleague from Arizona that he makes a good point but he is absolutely wrong. What the industry agreed to, according to the settlement, is that they would pay $80 million per point of noncompliance, up to a total…

And if we want to decrease teenage consumption, maybe we should encourage the States to pass laws it is against the law to consume and put some responsibility back on the individual. Instead, we are allowing this massive growth of…

I agree totally. And I also tell my colleague and friend from Texas, I wasn't part of the tobacco companies' deal. I am part of the Finance Committee. And I think if we are going to legislate on taxes, we ought to do it right. This is not…

I got on the Finance Committee because I did not like the way our tax system was structured. I want to work with our colleagues from Mississippi and Texas, to take the Tax Code and rewrite it and come up with something that is fair, flat…

The Senator used my name about 14 times. I would like to respond, because you made a couple allegations I resent and I would like to respond. But I would like to make a statement, not a question. I would like to make a statement. It would…

I want to come back to the fundamental issue of the look-back provision. Mr. President, I didn't invent the look-back provision. It wasn't my idea. I have very talented staff and advisers and friends. The look-back provision came from the…

What I am asking him to understand is why these look-back provisions are there, because the tobacco companies tried to entice young people to smoke, and here are the documents. In the agreement of June 20, 1997, the tobacco industry…

I did not do it because I was not comfortable with it. I did not do it because I do not want to introduce a bill that says tobacco companies will be exempt from class action suits. I did not do it because I looked at look-back assessments…

I appreciate it. Mr. McCAIN. In any way, that implication, I say to my friend from Oklahoma. I said on numerous occasions that his views on this are sincere and heartfelt. I hope the Senator understands that. And I say, I understand that…