Barbara Boxer: “I just didn't want the Record to go by without stating my disagreement with my friend from Arizona. We have 85…”

“I just didn't want the Record to go by without stating my disagreement with my friend from Arizona. We have 85 environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the Humane Society, on the side of reasonable compromise. This is an area where I don't have to agree with the administration. Sometimes those occasions do occur. Senator Biden and I teamed up in 1990. We passed the Dolphin Protection Act. This bill overturns it. Frankly, it was done in a way that should have brought the parties together in the first place. So I think we are doing this a little bit backwards in the sense that the compromise, I think, is going to come. By the way, I have no problem with bringing up the bill at any point. We are prepared to do that. So, if you want to bring up the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the bill, we are prepared to do that. But we think we can compromise this. We see Senator John Kerry now playing a lead role--Senator Biden, I, Senator Smith, and others on both sides of the aisle, in a bipartisan way, are ready to put forward an excellent compromise. If we get that, this bill can go through in moments.”