Barbara Boxer: “Absolutely. What we have going on here is this enormous spending bill, and buried in it is legislation that was tacked…”

“Absolutely. What we have going on here is this enormous spending bill, and buried in it is legislation that was tacked on, in many cases never discussed, such as this one Senator Conrad discovered, where a committee staff can look at Senator Grassley's tax returns or my tax return, or Senator Corzine's income tax returns, or anybody's tax return, and give it to the press. They could choose someone who is a constituent of ours. They could choose someone and find out what charities they are contributing to. This is the big government watching us, and the Weldon amendment is tucked in here without any vote by this Senate, either in committee or on the floor. I will tell you right now, talk about big government watching you. This is big government overriding State laws in many States. It is big government that is abandoning women in the emergency rooms who have life-threatening pregnancies, who walk into emergency rooms, and under a different law that protects this woman, she has to be stabilized. No more; not with the Weldon amendment. I wanted to say to my colleagues that I was willing to stand on my feet as long as it takes because of the outrage I feel for the women in this country because of the way they are treated in this bill. But I have been able to work with Senator Frist, Senator Reid, and Senator Daschle, and it looks as though we will be able to reach an agreement to have a vote on my bill to repeal this Weldon amendment within the next couple of months.”