Joe Biden: “I rise first to compliment my senior colleague from Delaware on his effectiveness. We agree on an awful lot of things.…”

“I rise first to compliment my senior colleague from Delaware on his effectiveness. We agree on an awful lot of things. We disagreed on this tax bill, but that in no way diminishes my admiration for his effectiveness. As a matter of fact, this is one of the few occasions I wish he were not as effective as he has been. I compliment him and I echo the comments of my friend from New York who said he is held in affection by Members on both sides of the aisle. I am first among those. I congratulate him for his success. I will not use the word ``deplore,'' but I disagree strongly with the outcome. However, I admire the way in which he--and maybe only he--could have been able to put this together.”