Barbara Boxer: “I say to my friend, clearly, all the work that the chairman has done, along with Congresswoman Norton, Senator…”

“I say to my friend, clearly, all the work that the chairman has done, along with Congresswoman Norton, Senator Hutchison, myself, all of our staffs, this has been hard. As Senator Faircloth has said, we have a balanced budget submitted here. As a part of the agreement on the balanced budget plan of 1997, signed into law, the President forwarded to Congress a series of budget amendments to implement the Revitalization Act for Washington, DC. So we are moving along. It has not been easy. I think every Member of the Senate--at least it is my feeling--would like to see us turn this Capital around. I think we have great pride in this Capital. We are very concerned about some of its problems. I think we are on the road to addressing them. So my colleague, in asking her question, is implying that a delay would send the wrong signal to Washington, DC, residents, would send the wrong signal, frankly, to the whole country, that we are backing off, and here they go again, adding extraneous matters to a DC appropriations bill. What I hear around is not very promising. I hear that these controversial amendments are coming. I make this plea to whoever might be listening to this opening debate on both sides: That we refrain from controversial amendments. This is the last bill we are getting together here. We should move it forward, keep it free of this controversy, move forward, do our business, do our work and get on with the Senate's business.”