David Cay Johnston

The Senator is aware that Vietnam is anxious to have aid from the American Bar Association in helping them develop the rule of law. We have not had that kind of request from Libya and Cuba and others. They are anxious to develop the rule…

But the whole world was united. Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the United States led in South Africa, and others followed. That is what we suggest here. The United States ought to stand up for what it believes in, ought to put its…

The point the Senator from New York and I are making is, if the United States leads, it is reasonable to believe others will follow.

The difference between our treatment of the three is that we isolated Burma, and General Ne Win isolated himself, whereas, because of the cold war, we embraced the Taiwanese, we embraced the South Koreans. Today, having been isolated for…

A totally repressive regime. The same, I think, would be said for our friends, the Taiwanese.

If I may follow further on the example you mentioned, South Korea. If you turn the clock back to 1962, when General Ne Win took control, he had control for over a quarter of a century. At that time, Burma was a relatively prosperous…

There is no peer in the Senate, in fact, in the country, of the Senator from New York in his knowledge of history. Therefore, I wonder, what is the basis of this hope that other countries, particularly Asian countries, would join in a…

I am advised it is part of this, which makes it nonenforceable, save for an act of Congress. Then you have the Supreme Court. I mean, should the Supreme Court be able to raise your taxes?

What I meant is sort of a precipitating event that caused this tit-for-tat thing, and the Chinese are clearly greatly to be criticized for all of those things that my colleague said, but I really meant the precipitating events. You can…

When the statute says we should invite President Li, they should come with all appropriate courtesies, that is just not a casual visit, as if by a foreign tourist. "All appropriate courtesies" means, in effect, we ought to invite a head of…

I know. But when it says we should seek a visit with ``all appropriate courtesies,'' what does ``all appropriate courtesies'' mean?

If they violate it--my own opinion is they did. That violation was, what, 3, 4 years ago. I forget exactly when. They have the capacity to continue to violate it further, but are not at this time. I do not excuse that. But I say that…

Would my friend find at fault this formulation, that the United States should make it clear to both sides that reunification, if it occurs, is a bilateral decision of the two countries, to be taken peacefully, and that the United States…

That is precisely right. One of the problems with Russia now is that they do not have open markets. We are trying to encourage that. It so happens that chickens are a huge business in Russia, and the American chicken is more economically…

I wonder if the Senator finds this parallel: In a conference report, when the Senate and the House go to a conference committee, there are bargains struck, and finally a bill put together. Would it not be somewhat like being able to strike…

I would hope that the Senator would ensure that this matter is clarified when this bill reaches conference and the final conference agreement reflects that the terms and conditions of the local law enforcement block grants do not preclude…

I am specifically speaking to the issue of the local law enforcement block grants. It is my understanding that in the case of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the authority to enforce felony crime statutes is vested solely in the…

This is the exception. There is no rule that needs to be reviewed, unless the agency head wishes to in his sole discretion, and that is not reviewable.

With this bill, the opponents look for ghosts and trouble everywhere, they find it everywhere, and they apply to it the wrong solutions. Mr. President, this language is clear, and I do not care who says otherwise. Show me where that is…

I am reminded, I tell my friend from Tennessee, of the old quotation from Groucho Marx, who said, ``Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, and applying to it the wrong solutions.''

The Senator is correct. And the critics read out of that statute the word ``solely,'' and they find ghosts everywhere. But ``solely'' means solely, and it is right there in the language. For the life of me, I cannot understand where people…

Look, we have a whole big section there that speaks for itself, of course, that means the risk analysis and cost-benefit, and it means peer review. And, as I said earlier, there will be times when procedural defects, if someone calls them…

We say, ``Failure to comply may be used solely for the purpose of determining whether that is arbitrary and capricious,'' and that differs not at all from what you have said. You allow for a review of procedures. What does it mean in…

Look. That is precisely the same. That is an additional interpretation. ``Arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion.'' That is the standard that we bring forward. We leave out ``otherwise not in accordance with law'' because we wanted…

No. I say the answer is no for the third time. And the reason is that it is not narrowing. It is expanding, and it is ambiguous.