Daniel Inouye: “I am a proud Democrat. Ted Stevens is a proud Republican. People have said, how can you two ever get together? Well, as…”

“I am a proud Democrat. Ted Stevens is a proud Republican. People have said, how can you two ever get together? Well, as the leader has indicated, we call each other brothers. I know this is a violation of our party rules, but I have contributed to Ted's campaign, and he has contributed to my campaign. Last election was one of the most negative and partisan ones that I have ever experienced. The issue was Iraq, as it is today. Ted Stevens came up to me and said: You know, this election is sending a bad message to the fellows and the women in Iraq. We should send another message. So he proposed that we do our very best to pass the Defense appropriations bill in a timely fashion unanimously. The record will show that the subcommittee came out and voted unanimously for the Defense appropriations bill. The full committee responded by unanimously voting for it, and the Senate, for the first time in history, voted 100 to 0. That is bipartisanship, Mr. President. We have demonstrated that it can be done, and it has been done many times.”