Thomas Daschle: “the first chart, entitled, ``Unfunded Mandates to the States (or Counties, Cities, Local Taxpayers) Under the Senate…”

“the first chart, entitled, ``Unfunded Mandates to the States (or Counties, Cities, Local Taxpayers) Under the Senate Finance Committee Welfare Bill (FY1966-FY2002).'' is a State-by- State breakdown of the unfunded mandates under the legislation over the next 7 years. The analysis was prepared by the staff of the Democratic Policy Committee based on HHS data on JOBS participation and the cost of such participation. The second chart is entitled, ``The Top Ten States With the Largest Unfunded Mandates Under the Senate Finance Committee Welfare Bill.'' South Dakota didn't make the top 10 list, but anyone in our small State will tell you that an unfunded mandate of $20.5 million is a lot of money. I suspect people in the other 39 States facing similar shortfalls would react the same way. I am disappointed that so few Members have focused on the unfunded mandate aspect of this legislation. Instead, they have chosen to focus on the size of the slice of pie they expect to get. During the last several weeks, I have read on numerous occasions that one of the largest reasons the Senate Republicans have not brought the legislation to the floor for consideration is that there is a formula fight brewing in their caucus. What's the fight about? The distribution of money. Under a frozen block grant as proposed in the Finance Committee bill, funds are really frozen. Despite your circumstances, that's it. You get one piece of the pie each year.”