David Cay Johnston

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…

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…

Mr. President, with the thrust of the resolution, I have no problem. I do not agree, really, with all of the wording of it. But you never can always embrace every jot and tittle in words and mood swings. But with the general thrust--which…

It is not what it says. It is what it leaves out. It is a subtle shift of ground. It is the mood of abandonment of the Shanghai communique and its progeny that are the problem here, and I wish we would just take some time in committee…

Mr. President, if there was ever anything that is clear as the noonday Sun on a cloudless day, anything that is obvious, it is that Whitewater is politics, pure and simple, and has nothing to do with policy. And the Senate should not…

Mr. President, over the Memorial Day recess, I had the opportunity, along with the Senator from Georgia and other Members of the Senate and of the House, to go to a conference sponsored by the Carnegie Institute for Peace in Madrid. It was…

just for one moment, I want to congratulate, of course, the Senator from Texas for her leadership, but the Senator from Georgia for his leadership on this issue, which is just another one of those issues in which, through the years, he has…

I have looked into this matter in great detail, and I think the Senator from Delaware is exactly correct. I have read the decisions and read the letters. I think he is exactly correct. I must say that it is a very fine legal point. Even…

the second part of my amendment provides the sense of the Congress on an issue that, if unresolved, will greatly increase the difficulty of attracting and retaining the best managers possible for cleanup activities. Under the Federal…

when I arrived in the Senate in 1972, the Senator from Rhode Island, Mr. Pell, had already achieved a record which made him known as one of the best and brightest, one of the most accomplished Senators. In the ensuing 23 years, he has…

Tomorrow in Brunei, the Secretary of State is going to meet with Chinese foreign minister Qian Qichen to discuss a very serious rift between China and the United States which has been brewing for some time and which has more recently…

Let me ask my friend to answer this question: EPA does not do anything. It puts no rule up for review. What is your remedy if you are an aggrieved party, if you are outraged citizens, if you are millions of American citizens, what is your…

It would even more clearly be consensual under those because they make sure, and they say, ``in sole discretion of the agency head,'' and then they go back, under section 625, and ensure that there is no appeal from the exercise of sole…

It is quite clear. It is a low barrier. You have to show the rule is likely to terminate, the agency needs additional time, that terminating the rule would not be in the public interest, and that the agency has not expeditiously completed…

Generally for the life, for the 20th or 30th time, the value of the life is not quantifiable by its nature.

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…

This is a waste of time. If you want to kill this bill, enact this Glenn-Chafee amendment, beat your chest, feel good about it. It has risk assessment in the title of the bill, but it amounts to nothing, zero.

I have never said this ought to be consensual, that it ought to be solely in the discretion of the agency head. Never have said that. Never believed that. It simply is not so. I think we have delivered very, very well on this letter of…

That is exactly correct. But they say, trust us, we will do them in our sole discretion.

There has been a risk assessment rulemaking rule out there--Executive order I should say--under every President since President Ford. By the way, I have a copy of it here. The problem is that it is consensual as well, and it is generally…

Oh, well, sure. Congress can always pass a law. The Constitution provides that. This bill does not provide that. But save Congress enacting a law, it is consensual, is it not?

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.

I have given the answer to that question. I will give it again. It is because the definition of section 621 includes both quantifiable and nonquantifiable and because life is, by its very nature, not quantifiable in value, although we may…

The advisory boards, in my judgment, are useful, and I tried to sell advisory boards. I do not think they are central to the process, but if the Senator from Ohio thinks they are important, I will come back----

Again, the question is, what is the value of a human life? It is, in my view, very clearly by nature nonquantifiable.