Mike Thompson: “I think the Senator is probably right. But let's talk about what we are really concerned about here. I think the Senator…”

“I think the Senator is probably right. But let's talk about what we are really concerned about here. I think the Senator is wanting to be included in the front end of the consideration, basically. I think that is reasonable. It is not required by the rules. None of this is required by the rules of the Governmental Affairs Committee. This is my attempt to go beyond the rules in order to do something that I think is right and the fair thing to do. Let me not mislead you here. I think these are things that I always felt were best worked out at the staff level, but I think we are going to have to address them now. I do not think it is ever practical to have Senators sit down around the table for the very first conversation about who we are going to subpoena. I think we have to let the staff do their work. They have to come to us individually and as a group. They have to come to me as chairman and Senator Glenn with their ideas. There has to be opportunity to have free discussion back and forth, and if somebody writes a list of names or companies down that they feel should have top priority, they should not have to be apologetic about that. It has to start somewhere. So we need to let the staff do their work, then we need to have the staff submit that to the members, and then the members need to talk to each other. That is my idea of proceeding.”