Chris Dodd: “I thank the leader for responding to several questions. I appreciate that very much. I don't disagree. In fact, this may…”

“I thank the leader for responding to several questions. I appreciate that very much. I don't disagree. In fact, this may be very good news that we have heard in the last hour or so about the port security issue. Like all of us, I think the leader said it well. The devil can be in the details here. We are going to want to examine what was included there. As I understood, my colleague from New York and the Democratic leader were willing to forgo offering this amendment that Senator Schumer has proposed on this bill for the simple assurance that, if necessary, they would like the opportunity to bring this up at a later time. Many of us applauded that decision. In fact, the Democratic leader offered a unanimous consent request that would have done that, it would allow us to get back to the reform bill. I see a number of my colleagues here. My colleague from Maine knows as well as I do these things can slip, and once they start to slip, other matters can overtake us, and we don't get back to the matter. We have seen it on asbestos and other matters. I am worried that will happen if we allow too much time to pass before we get back to the legislation. I made the appeal earlier today to reach some accommodation among the leaders so we will be allowed to go forward with this bill that the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee worked so hard on and the Rules Committee worked so hard on. We did our job. I think we can get this done in fairly short order.…”