Word: gramm
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...Gramm made it clear that the New Jersey law was exactly his idea of reform. Still, he insisted, that was beside the point; the point was that federal funds should not be used to "circumvent the will of the American people" in court. To Gramm, it seemed an eminently logical proposition; as another senator put it, "You shouldn't use government money to sue the Government...
...Gramm had simply come out and said that he believed the poor did not have a right to challenge welfare-reform law in court, that the poor had no legal recourse and should simply bend to the will of the majority, his position would at least have been consistent. Instead, Gramm declared, "Poor people have the right to be represented, I agree, but not at taxpayer expense." While granting that the poor were entitled to go to court to challenge the fairness of a law, Gramm said, "Let them do it with their own money"--a statement so ironic...
...Gramm observed that opponents of his amendment were confusing "legal" with "political" rights. Legal rights, to Gramm, include going to court to settle benefit disputes and the like under State and Federal laws. Political rights are those that might actually result in those laws being changed; it was those rights that Gramm argued the taxpayers should not fund. In fact, Gramm pointed out, the political process had already run its course in the New Jersey legislature; the poor no longer had a say in the matter. Political rights were irrelevant...
...seemed that Gramm had failed to remember, as Senator Paul Wellstone pointed out, that "the law" eventually comes down to the Constitution, and that "legal rights" must include every-one's rights under the Constitution, whether that means upholding or over-turning other state and federal laws...
...floor to cite several cases, supported by Legal Services, in which welfare laws had been judged discriminatory or otherwise unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Legal Services, in defending its client's legal rights to protection under the Constitution, had the political impact of overturning other laws. Now, Gramm wants to end those activities, which would severely restrict Legal Services' ability to serve what even Gramm has granted was their clients...