John Mica: “To that point, I did say I would be willing to cast, if it came to one vote, a vote to move this process forward…”

“To that point, I did say I would be willing to cast, if it came to one vote, a vote to move this process forward, because I have always tried to work in a bipartisan manner, and I appreciate the manner in which, Mr. Speaker, both Mr. Costello and Mr. Oberstar work on this. One of the things that does concern me--and it's my understanding, Mr. Speaker, that this came over on a Ways and Means measure. We are sending it back. We won't necessarily get a chance to even conference this in the normal manner. So I am concerned about also the process. I am concerned, too, that we aren't passing a final bill today. This has many good provisions in it. There are some differences that need to be resolved. In fact, what really irritates me, too, is the safety provision. The safety bill that is added on by the other body, we agreed in a bipartisan manner, and it is sinful that that is not enacted on the President's desk almost immediately. That's in this measure and I support that strongly, and we worked together to get that on there. But we do have differences and we do have to face reality, and we need to get the job done.”