Mark Dayton: “I am one Member, along with a number of my colleagues, who believes we should be debating not this gun liability bill…”

“I am one Member, along with a number of my colleagues, who believes we should be debating not this gun liability bill but the Department of Defense authorization bill for the coming fiscal year. I serve on that committee. It was a good bipartisan effort. I was planning to offer an amendment to add $120 million for childcare and family support for the families of reservists and National Guard men and women who are called to active duty. Others had amendments, including one regarding BRAC, of particular note to me and others in Minnesota affected by that process. But we are not on that bill. Instead, we are dealing with the most special interest legislation I have encountered in my 4\1/2\ years in the Senate. We are going to leave at the end of this week for a month and we have one last window of opportunity to take up what presumably would be the most important measure before the Nation and the Senate. Instead, we get this special interest bill. We are not on stem cell legislation that would allow us to create a medically and scientifically based framework to protect the sanctity of human life or prohibit cloning, and yet still allow medical research that could save many thousands of lives for years to come. That is not the Republican leadership's top priority. Nor is the constitutional amendment to prohibit the burning or desecration of the American flag, of which I am a proud cosponsor, brought to the Senate.…”