Lincoln Chafee: “I am delighted that he has had a roll call of heroes of the country, but before he leaves I would point out one thing.…”

“I am delighted that he has had a roll call of heroes of the country, but before he leaves I would point out one thing. It is not often that he is inaccurate, but I am afraid that he went overboard a little bit today when he suggested that the Supreme Court in the Adarand decision had struck down as unconstitutional the provisions of the affirmative action program. What the Supreme Court said in the 5 to 4 decision--I am talking about the Supreme Court. I like to deal with the Supreme Court. What it did is remanded that case. It did not say it was unconstitutional. Any talk of unconstitutionality came by the lower court which then examined whether the provisions in the Adarand situation conformed to the restrictions that the Supreme Court was applying. I just want to say to the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts-- and by the way, I am on my time now, Mr. President--I think he is exactly right when he points out the difference between what happens when you have a State program with no admonitions in it, or requirements as far as minority contractors go, and what happens when you have the Federal program when the efforts are made. I might say these, the goals, are voluntary in the States. In Kentucky--I was pleased to see that Kentucky is considerably above the 10 percent. Kentucky itself is at 11.5 percent.”