Patrick Leahy

Thank you, Miss Holbrook.

I note we had discussion about whether people want to prolong this debate. We do want to have debate on the constitutional amendment. People have given tremendous speeches, pro and con, on this issue. I hope everybody will vote for…

The needs described so well by my colleagues are pervasive, urgent, and fully within our means to address. Hunger has a cure. As ranking member of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Research, Nutrition, and General Legislation, I will do all…

I hope we will find a way to go through this. I realize we have issues of the minimum wage and others. We ought to vote them up, vote them down, whatever is necessary. I advise both leaders, I think we have put together a good, bipartisan…

I notice that the Senator mentioned all the reversals. I think half of those reversals in the last year were decisions written by Reagan appointees and Bush appointees. I don't recall the Senator from New Hampshire or anyone on his side…

I commend him for supporting the cloture motion and moving this forward so we would not have that precedent. I am concerned, though, because I have heard rumors that one of these votes may be on a motion to indefinitely postpone a vote on…

If I understand, we have never had this circumstance. Certainly, I have not in my 25 years in the Senate. I do not believe ever having a circumstance where we have had cloture on two judicial nominations and then had a motion to postpone…

I thank the Senator. Obviously, as one of the authors of this legislation, along with the distinguished Senator from Michigan, I would like to see the law in its present form. I just wanted to make sure, having spent enormous amounts of…

I do have a concern about the slow pace of nominations being confirmed, especially with those such as the Paez and Berzon nominations that have waiting years, not just weeks and months. We should be moving forward on those nominations, as…

We indicted, and we are using our criminal justice system to try, Cuban spies, just as we have Russian spies, Chinese spies, Japanese spies, Israeli spies, and spies from even our NATO allies. We have done that. We have not broken our…

People have been shot in the streets in China, and held in prisons in China, and tortured and executed in China; are we allowed to go and visit there without having to get a license from our country to do so?

I also hope, I might add--and I will not interrupt the Senator again--that we are able to come to a conclusion and agreement on legislation that can be signed into law prior to the beginning of the school year.

I agree with the point that the Senator from Utah has made. There are an awful lot of things in the Senate-passed bill besides guns. There are some very major changes in the handling of juvenile crimes, especially juvenile violent crimes…

No. But I am aware of the fact that the Senator from New Jersey is one of the experts on this issue. He has studied it as much or more than any other person in this body. If he says those are the numbers, I am willing to accept them.

I have seen that, and I have seen the results in some places where those who should not get guns have gotten them because there has not been enough time to make the checks.

I believe the Hatch-Leahy juvenile justice bill is a firm and significant step in the right direction. The passage of that bill showed that when Senators roll up their sleeves and get to work, we can make significant progress. And we did…

In this bill, we bring forward business protections but we don't bring forward the consumer protections we passed last year. Let's be consistent; let's make sure we give consumers at least as much protection as we give businesses. That is…

Mr. President, I intend to vote against tabling this resolution. I want other Senators to be very clear why I will not join the distinguished majority leader and the distinguished Democratic leader in their motion to table and why, like…

I am glad that we have been able to achieve passage of a bill that will help protect children from sexual predators. ... we actually want to enact this bill to protect children, something that I worked hard to do as a prosecutor, when I…

The Appropriations Committee added $278 million in this conference report for veterans medical care, a significant increase over the President's budget request. It was my understanding that a portion of this increase will go to New England.

I say to my friend from Mississippi, I have worked on each one of these pieces of legislation so much. There are times when I have attempted to pull out what little bit of hair I have left, and, frankly, I hope we can move this. I will…

I ask my good friend, the distinguished leader--and we have been friends for a long time--do I detect a hint in that suggestion of being able to tell Members there may not be further votes if we voice vote the nepotism bill?

I believe that the issue of inspection fees charged bison producers should be explored by the Department of Agriculture, and that the Department should provide us with their analysis of this impact early in 1999.

Yes, I do agree. It is my understanding that USDA collects substantial fees from those bison ranchers and processing firms for Federal inspection. It is my understanding that this fee is set yearly by USDA and that it is approximately $41…

My concern is that there had been a year of inaction on the bill. I had tried to propose some additional changes to the bill, which was voted on by the Judiciary Committee in July 1997, but I was unable to get any response from the other…