Offering of Amendments
Floor Speech
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Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
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Mr. McCAIN. I ask unanimous consent to be allowed to engage in a colloquy with the Senator from Oklahoma.
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Mr. McCAIN. I have a couple of questions for the Senator from Oklahoma. My understanding is that he seeks to have an amendment considered that would eliminate the subsidies which are $4 billion?
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Mr. McCAIN. It is $4.9 billion and the recipients themselves want it reversed?
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Mr. McCAIN. So the recipients of this government largesse would want it eliminated. What is the basis, if I may ask, of the opposition to the amendment?
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Mr. McCAIN. If the argument is that maybe we ought to eliminate this but not abruptly, wasn't the message of last November 2 that they wanted a lot of things done abruptly?
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Mr. McCAIN. That was my understanding, that as part of the beginning of the new session of Congress, the 112th Congress, there were going to be amendments allowed; that there would be kind of a different environment where it would not be bringing up a bill, filing cloture and shutting out Members from offering amendments. That is apparently not the case?
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Mr. McCAIN. Near an all-time high.
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Mr. McCAIN. I understand this amendment has been objected to by some ``conservative organizations'' that want us not to increase taxes in any way, shape, or form, something that has characterized the voting record of the Senator from Oklahoma and myself. But now you are being attacked for being a tax increaser?
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Mr. McCAIN. What is the argument?
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Mr. McCAIN. And it seems to me that this issue has some complexities to it---
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Mr. McCAIN. That the average citizen would not understand. But I think they understand $4.9 billion and that those savings would accrue to them, along with the reduction in inflation and the costs of the products of corn.
So it is a very interesting situation. So when I go back home and some of my constituents are skeptical about whether we are really serious about taking on some of the sacred cows--and certainly ethanol has been a sacred cow around here--maybe there is some justification for their skepticism.
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Mr. McCAIN. Well, I think the Senator has made a strong point. I just wanted to have a clarification, and I hope that perhaps we can also start addressing the issue of sugar subsidies, which I think is probably one of the really great ripoffs in America today, again, causing the cost of any confection or anything that contains sugar to rise, and then, of course, the American consumers pay for it, and preventing sugar from other countries from coming into this country at a lower price.
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Mr. McCAIN. I was watching.
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Mr. McCAIN. But if you believe in our great Nation and the democracy and the representative government that it is, over time, you will succeed. It requires tenacity. I do not think the Senator will be elected Mr. Congeniality this year again, either, but I appreciate his efforts on this issue and many others. I look forward to continuing to join him in the fight and following his leadership.
I yield the floor.
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