Pete Domenici: “I do not know when--I am very hopeful this will not end up being a partisan charade, but I can cite a couple items that…”

“I do not know when--I am very hopeful this will not end up being a partisan charade, but I can cite a couple items that do bother me. I was reading Roll Call a couple days ago. I understood the majority leader made a statement that whoever was on that committee to produce a stimulus, they had gotten the message from the leadership and the Democrats that unless two-thirds of the Democrats were for the package, they could not take it out of this conference committee. It would not come out. That is an interesting statement. I assume it is pretty partisan, too. Things operate in the Senate on a majority basis. We do not need two-thirds of Democrats and Republicans to produce a stimulus package. In any event, I hope that is not a sign that it is going to be partisan because we do have a chance to produce a stimulus package that will be worthwhile. From my standpoint, I think I am going to put together a stimulus package--what would go this with that, that with this. I might do that in the next couple days and at least come to the Chamber and talk about a stimulus package and why it is a stimulus package.”