Mike Levin: “Let me thank Senator Lautenberg for his comments and assure him one of the reasons this conference lasted I think longer…”

“Let me thank Senator Lautenberg for his comments and assure him one of the reasons this conference lasted I think longer than any conference in history, 147 days, was because of those two environmental provisions which, until the end, many of us fought very hard against. The House prevailed. There would not have been a conference report, basically, if we had just refused to give in on this. Ultimately we did not have the votes on this side to carry on in that particular course of action. But I assure the Senator from New Jersey I, as one Senator, agreed with his comments. The provisions that were in the House bill, however, ultimately prevailed. That is what happens with some of these conferences. We basically win some and lose some, and as far as I am concerned we lost on this one, and so did the world.”