Jay Rockefeller

In response to the Senator, I wholly agree with what he said, by trying to make two points. One is that when we were first contemplating this children's health insurance bill and the whole key concept of maybe getting as much as $24…

before casting my vote for this tax portion of the budget plan, I want to comment on the aspects that are of most concern to me. The basic point I want to emphasize is that my vote for both the spending bill and this tax bill that make up…

I would draw one small point, however of difference. That is, in the miners' health retirement bill there has never been any thought, any action, any suggestion that any of that money should be used for anything but the health care of…

The provision that will probably become law, in this gigantic stack of papers, is opposed by telecommunications companies. It is opposed by education groups. It is going to be opposed by a lot more groups before this process is finished…

I strongly agree with what Senator Dorgan of North Dakota has said. I expect that, if the Presiding Officer were in a position to take the floor, he might say something not that dissimilar. There is an enormous amount of anger among those…

I rise to urge the Senate to reject the amendment offered by Senator Brownback that is designed to weaken a program absolutely critical to the country's technological strength. I thought that the fact that this bill contains the $200…

There is another aspect which worries me greatly. I have heard so many people talk about the importance of technology and the importance of understanding that technology is our future and the fact that so many of the people in our rural…

the next few days could make the difference between every working family getting the benefit of the child care tax credit in the budget--or the benefit of the child credit only going to families earning more than $30,000. The next few days…

I am going to vote for the Daschle alternative. It is a more difficult decision if you have been on the Finance Committee, because of what the others who have spoken of which has been referred to as the oath that we took, to support the…

I thank both my ranking leader and the chairman of the committee. I say to my good friend, Senator Kennedy from Massachusetts, that having witnessed this process, Senator Hatch fought like a tiger, would not yield in very close quarters…

I point out that this amendment would help seniors making, on an annual basis, between $9,500 a year and $11,900 a year. It would simply take the principles of the Medicaid Program and carry them forward, and simply say those folks deserve…

I say to my colleagues, I think the majority leader is exactly right, and I congratulate him, as well as Senator Roth and his excellent staff, as well as Senators Chafee, Jeffords and many others who worked on it. As the majority leader…

one thing that occurs to me listening to this debate is that some very, very important principles followed by amendments are being put before the Senate in a context that the American people do not fully understand nor have they any reason…

I have faith in the chairman of the Finance Committee. I think this was a bipartisan decision to do something about a problem that has been with us throughout our history, which is no longer deemed acceptable. The Senator is entirely…

In the present bill before us, there is a requirement that benefits provided be actuarially equivalent to the benefits provided under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program or FEHBP, it sounds good. But, in fact, since there are so…

There are 10 million uninsured children in this country, and that was deemed to be unacceptable. The first approach was to try and insure 5 million children. That is what the $16 billion was for, to try to get the first 5 million uninsured…

I think there is a tendency in this body, when we do something for children--let's say we do a tax credit or we do something in Head Start or where we do something in health care--to say that we made a dent and we can go on the next issue…

I have made the decision to vote in favor of the budget resolution before us to achieve a balanced budget and invest in key priorities for the country. This is not a vote to claim that this budget plan is perfect or a replica of the…

as a cosponsor of the Hatch-Kennedy bill, I am extremely hopeful that this amendment will pass. If this amendment passes it will enable us to come very close to achieving universal coverage for all of America's children. However, like…

This amendment, the amendment of Senator Kennedy and Senator Hatch, reduces the budget deficit. I hope that point has been made. It does reduce it by $10 billion. That is specifically the amount. It does not change a single spending cut or…

today, I am introducing a private relief bill that is based on careful reflection and a sincere desire to help a family of importance to me and my State of West Virginia. This is an effort to assist an individual named Jack Sun who is a…

children who are at risk of abuse and neglect are among the most vulnerable group in our society, and we have a compelling obligation to do a better job in protecting such children. I am proud to join Senator Chafee and others in a…

I, too, am frustrated. I mean, there are lots of things to be frustrated about this year. The pace has been slow. There are things we should have been doing. There are distractions hither and yon. One thing we should be doing is the…

I rise to express my extremely strong, very enthusiastic support for the nomination of Charlene Barshefsky to be our U.S. Trade Representative. This is an important vote for America, for its future. I urge my colleagues to give her the…

I am very pleased to be reintroducing a modest but important bill that would establish a demonstration project to assure Medicare beneficiaries with cancer that Medicare will cover their routine patient costs when part of a clinical…