Victor Fazio: “I rise with great relief and applaud the willingness of all the parties to reach closure here today so we can send this…”

“I rise with great relief and applaud the willingness of all the parties to reach closure here today so we can send this legislation on to its signature and begin to help repair the damage, both real and psychic, that people all over this country have absorbed in the last 6 months. We have, I think, in this success an example we need to look to. We have two gentlemen who run the Committee on Appropriations. They are both volatile and yet lovable. The two of them can throw temper tantrums that make us all remember Sil Conte, but they get the job done because they can still work together when it is in the interest of the American people. Had they been allowed to work this issue successfully, they would have accomplished the task long ago. I am afraid we have had a very difficult lesson. I know the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Livingston], the chairman of this committee, showed us the way we would have had a down payment on this bill weeks ago rather than having gone for a break had we listened to him. But we failed it.”