Connie Mack: “I thank Senator Jeffords for yielding. First of all, I want to commend him for a tremendous amount of work. This is an…”

“I thank Senator Jeffords for yielding. First of all, I want to commend him for a tremendous amount of work. This is an incredibly complicated piece of legislation. It has involved a lot of different interest groups in some issues that have become very charged. So I again want to thank the Senator from Vermont for his willingness to work with Senator Frist and I as we worked on the so-called off-label issue. I also want to express my appreciation to Senator Kennedy. He had some deep concerns about the legislation, and as a result of extensive discussions we were able to find a compromise. I think it was one of the reasons that this bill was able to move forward. So I thank Senator Jeffords and Senator Kennedy. And I also want to put in a comment with respect to Mark Smith, my staffer who has worked on this issue for more than some 2 1/2 years. Again, I thank Senator Jeffords for what he has done.”