542
Stevens, J., dissenting
on a "clean slate," ante, at 534, when it decided to exclude the State from its definition of the class of persons who must pay interest on debts to the United States. There was no occasion for Congress to specifically abrogate a principle that it had no reason to think stood in its way.
In Board of Comm'rs of Jackson County v. United States, 308 U. S. 343 (1939), the Court held that the United States, suing on behalf of a Native American, could not recover prejudgment interest from a county even though the county had improperly collected those taxes. While noting that "interest in inter-governmental litigation has no . . . roots in history," id., at 351, the Court did not rule out the possibility that in an unusual case, considerations of fairness might make it appropriate to collect such interest from a state agency, see id., at 352. Only to that small extent, therefore,
ings before the House Committee on the Judiciary during the House's consideration of the Debt Collection Act of 1981, H. R. 4614.
"In response to these concerns, on September 27, 1982, I proposed an amendment to S. 1249. This amendment, UP amendment 1299, amended provisions in Sections 10 and 11 of the Act, stating that 'the term "person" does not include any agency of the United States, or any state or local government.' This provision effectively took federal agencies, states and local governments out of the Act, but retained sufficient flexibility to permit Congress to legislatively pick and choose according to circumstances, those situations in which the government might assess interest against those entities exempted by the Act. As enacted, the Debt Collection Act of 1982 appears clear on this point. It was not anticipated that federal agencies would attempt to invoke common law authority, which, if it exists with respect to interest assessment and administrative offset against states and local governments, was abrogated by sections 10(e)(2) and 11(e)(8) of the Act." Letter of Nov. 21, 1983, from Senator Charles H. Percy to the Comptroller General (emphasis added). See Texas v. United States, 951 F. 2d 645, 649-650 (CA5 1992); Pennsylvania Dept. of Public Welfare v. United States, 781 F. 2d 334, 341, n. 10 (CA3 1986). Of course, the significance of a comment by an individual legislator is discounted when made " 'after passage of the Act,' " see Bread Political Action Committee v. FEC, 455 U. S. 577, 582, n. 3 (1982). This Court's use of the 1987 opinion in the West Virginia case to describe the state of the common law in 1982 should be similarly discounted.
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