Mark Hatfield: “let me clarify the Gramm amendment, which is in the context of what the leadership has been doing in trying to negotiate…”

“let me clarify the Gramm amendment, which is in the context of what the leadership has been doing in trying to negotiate with the White House. In fact, the leadership supports my effort to try to table or to kill or vote no on the Gramm amendment, and that is simply this. The negotiators on our side said to the President there would be $10 billion that we would consider adding in nondefense discretionary spending if you agree to balance the budget through this process by the year 2002. That was our leaders, the Speaker of the House and Mr. Dole, the majority leader of the Senate. So, consequently, the administration came up with a request for this particular fiscal year for $8 billion of additional spending under the proposed agreement contingent upon getting that agreement. We in the Appropriations Committee went over those requests. We cut it to $4 billion and we said, ``But that $4 billion is contingent upon the leadership, who have been negotiating that long-term agreement finding an agreement.'' So what we are trying to do is to help the leadership by providing the incentive, by providing the continuing leverage, and that is simply it. There is not a dollar of this that can be spent until the leadership has reached an agreement with the White House, and that is to assist the leadership to pursue this expeditiously.”