David Cay Johnston: “No. They have already had--first of all, they have had 1 year after the expiration--I mean after the effective date of…”

“No. They have already had--first of all, they have had 1 year after the expiration--I mean after the effective date of the act. They have had 3 years minimum initially, plus they have had these 2 years--that is 6 years. They cannot extend it beyond 6 years. But they can make such orders to continue the rule as is necessary. Now, my friend from California says the supermandate language is ambiguous. For the life of me, Mr. President, the supermandate language we said was unnecessary in the first place because the bill is clear and I believe it is. But at the behest of all the people who said we have to have supermandate language, we adopted the language using their word. ``Override'' was not our word, it was the word of others. It says, now, ``nothing in this section shall be construed to override any statutory requirements including health, safety and environmental requirements.'' For the life of me I do not know what you do to please the opponents of this provision. We first accept the principle and put it in the bill, and it is clear. But, oh, no, they find an ambiguity. We come back and put in the precise language, the override language that they want, and it is still not good enough. Mr. President, what can we do to satisfy the opponents of this bill? If that language is not good enough--tell me what is. It is incredible.”