Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I hope very much our colleagues will also listen to the arguments against the second-degree amendment and for this…”

“I hope very much our colleagues will also listen to the arguments against the second-degree amendment and for this amendment. I know the committee tried very hard to balance what they considered to be every State's wishes and needs, but they have made a major precedent-setting change in the business of the Senate by creating a new stepchild category for superdonor States. They picked States that have other huge problems such as high growth and falling median incomes. Targeting these high-growth, large States that have huge infrastructure problems and other problems that go with being on the border with another country is a major step in the wrong direction. I hope the chairman will reconsider. That is not likely right now, but we have been trying to work with the chairman to see if there could be some accommodation that would acknowledge the huge infrastructure needs of these superdonor States created in this bill. I hope the Senate does not do this in the end. In our amendment every State comes out better. It will create a more level playing field. The existing bill is not a level playing field by any stretch of the imagination. We are trying to gradually raise the percentage that every State will be able to get when we are sending more to Washington than we receive in return.”