Douglas Alexander: “I hope our colleagues can see that these senior Members of the Senate--in the case of Senator Kennedy and Senator Enzi…”

“I hope our colleagues can see that these senior Members of the Senate--in the case of Senator Kennedy and Senator Enzi, they have a large amount of jurisdiction over this subject; Senator Stevens and Senator Inouye, who spoke yesterday, have a large amount of jurisdiction over this subject; Senators Domenici and Bingaman, who introduced legislation last year that attracted 70 cosponsors--a number of their ideas are within this legislation, but they have also demonstrated something you don't see every day with Senators, which is a forbearance. In other words, they recognize this is a big, 208-page bill with the President's ideas and those of the Council on Competitiveness and the Augustine Commission. It is well and carefully crafted, but not every single section is exactly the way every single Senator would like it. Also, it has permitted us to have a procedure that brings this bill to the floor so it has a good chance of being enacted this week.”