Pete Domenici: “Yes, discussion of this bill. First, I want to say I have a little amendment pending, but believe me, I do not intend to…”

“Yes, discussion of this bill. First, I want to say I have a little amendment pending, but believe me, I do not intend to delay things. I will offer it with Senator Bingaman, so I am not running to my office, and the Senator does not have to call me back with anything. I want to tell the Senator why things are taking so long. We have Senator Harkin. He has a legitimate point. I mean, the whole law of the land on big subjects that the conferees know nothing about in appropriations should not be changed. The Senator from Iowa can speak for himself, but I have a situation where the conferees on that subcommittee have not had a hearing on the huge program called the milk subsidy for America. They changed it. They extended part of it. They added a new subsidy and a new forward contract. Now, how do they know how that affects Oklahoma, California, or Texas? They do not, but there are enough people on the conference to do that, and Senators know about that. Now, I am a player, and there is nobody who has more respect for what the Senator is trying to do than I, but there comes a point where one cannot stand it anymore. People want this big bill to protect our country, Homeland Security, but they do not have to protect some cows along with it, do they? We are not here for a cow protection program; we are here to protect America. So if they do that--I do the rules, although not very often, but that bill has three perfect points of order in it.”