David Cay Johnston

I will say in response that really the majority leader's amendment adds nothing to what is already in the bill except it says including E. coli. Health including E. coli. A health threat already included E. coli. It already includes…

No, but you would preclude a review, for example, on whether this is a major rule, whether it has $50 million, if that is the trigger, or $100 million, which I hope we can get an amendment in to make it $100 million. That question would be…

We believe so, but if it needs to be further clarified, it can be. The idea here is that you want to have this determination made early enough in the process so that you can remedy the defects in the rule while the rule is still going on…

No; the question of whether this is a rule which has a substantial, significant effect on a substantial number of small businesses, which is the trigger for the reg-flex, it is the intent here--and this language has not been drawn--it is…

You have a choice. If you wait until the final appeal, it would be a more limited choice because the only remedy provided there is for the court, in effect, to order the reg-flex analysis, and if that then would call for a modification in…

I will not propose that amendment today, but I simply ask the Senator, in fact both Senators from Georgia, if they will continue to work with us with a view to dealing with this problem of agency overload, hoping to find some…

I wonder if it is the Senator's intent by this resolution to begin a two China policy, that is to violate the terms of the agreement the United States made with the People's Republic of China in 1979 to recognize the People's Republic of…

I intend to offer my thoughts on House Concurrent Resolution 53, but before doing so, I would like to know if my colleague from Alaska might engage in a colloquy on a particular point about this resolution on which we would agree: that it…

If this constitutional amendment passes and becomes the law of the land and the President takes the oath to uphold this Constitution----

What I really have in mind is what is the limit of the President's impoundment authority under this amendment?

Yes. The question I had, Mr. President, was to what extent does the President of the United States have a duty or authority under the Constitution, which he is sworn to uphold, to balance this budget if the Congress has failed to do so?

If the Senator assumes that this amendment gives to the President that line-item veto, I assume that the Senator also assumes that that power is without limitation; that is to say, if the President has the authority under this amendment to…

Mr. President, my question today has to do with the authority of the President with respect to the balanced budget amendment. I wonder if the Senator from California can tell me when the President, on Inauguration Day, raises his hand and…

I will close with this because I have taken too long. My point is that it is a Constitution we are amending. It can be clarified simply and clearly as to whether the Court can enforce. It is the most fundamental question, and we ought to…

I will tell you why it is left deliberately vague. Because there are some who are for it and some who are not for it and they want to leave it up in limbo. Mr. President, this is a Constitution we are amending. Why can we not say what it…

I do not believe that judgment is clear at all. I think it is probable that the Court can enforce this--probable. Reasonable minds can disagree. But why leave it deliberately vague, deliberately ambiguous?

Is he one of those who disagreed that the New Deal helped bring us out of the Depression?

In the Contract With America, it has both a tax cut and a constitutional amendment to balance the budget.

The Senator is not competing with me. I think that is terrible policy, and I know my President is for it and I know Contract With America is for it. But it is absolutely the wrong time to be doing that.

For many, many years one-man-one vote was considered by the Court to be a political question. And the Supreme Court in Baker versus Carr changed that judgment and said it is no longer political; we are going to order one-man-one-vote. Now…

Political doctrine? The Senator remembers the one-man- one-vote case, Baker versus Carr?

My friend would agree that the courts are not prohibited from enforcing this amendment, and that in every other amendment the Court has jurisdiction to enforce, and they do get involved in every other amendment, do they not?

Section 6 says, Congress shall enforce and implement this by appropriate legislation. It does not say the courts lack jurisdiction to enforce the amendment. Every other amendment of the Constitution, my friend would agree, can be enforced…

Under the 14th amendment, courts run prisons, courts run schools, courts have even required taxes. What was the name of the case where the courts required taxes to equalize taxes between school districts in a State? They do that all the…

Is not that language about the Congress acting to enforce the amendment by appropriate legislation identical to the language found in section 5 of the 14th amendment, and that has not prohibited the courts from issuing literally thousands…