Cord Byrd: “throughout this debate--and there really hasn't been a lot of debate--there was talk about rushing this bill through and…”

“throughout this debate--and there really hasn't been a lot of debate--there was talk about rushing this bill through and putting it on the President's desk before the August recess. Then there was kind of a fallback position in which it would be rushed through but it would be on the President's desk by 9/11, September 11. Neither of these efforts, as they appeared to be explained in the newspaper, was a very wise approach to dealing with such a very, very difficult, important--and I will use the word complex, which encompasses difficult as well, but I will add it to the sentence--piece of legislation. How many Senators are paying attention to what is being said on this very important legislation? We have on the floor the distinguished manager of the bill, the chairman of the committee which had jurisdiction over this legislation, and we have the ranking member. These two Senators are here at their posts of duty. How many other Senators are there? I see the distinguished Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Corzine, in the Chair. And here is this middling upstart from West Virginia at this desk. So the deadline for completing this legislation by the beginning of the recess came and went, and the deadline of September 11 is going to come and go, but who is paying attention? My thought was that if Senators had the August recess, many of them would read this bill.…”