Julian Bond: “Well, Mr. President, I might say to the distinguished minority leader, this is one of the problems we get when there is…”

“Well, Mr. President, I might say to the distinguished minority leader, this is one of the problems we get when there is a legislative matter on which there have been no hearings in the Senate. We are attempting to determine the basis of that assumption here on the floor of the Senate. This should properly be done in a Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing. As I understand what the minority leader says in his arguments--and none of us have any question about the pain and difficulty that a family with a child born with spina bifida goes through. What we are asking is whether there is a reasonable basis in fact. Now, as I understand it, all of these assumptions are based on something called the ranch-hand study, is that correct?”