Chuck Grassley: “I think my colleague from South Dakota, the distinguished Democrat leader, has made it very clear where we are compared…”

“I think my colleague from South Dakota, the distinguished Democrat leader, has made it very clear where we are compared to where we were before Christmas. Let me repeat that we had been working on an economic stimulus package in various ways for several weeks, most of it not here on the floor of the Senate but in small groups, and different groups, and bipartisan groups, and partisan groups, to come together to see what we could get to get through the Senate--a stimulus package--and the need for it was directly related to the downturn in the economy that came mostly as a result of September 11 terrorist attacks. And then what finally happened was just before we adjourned. A White House-centrist package that was put together by mostly Republican and Democrat centrists, working with the White House, was a bill that passed the House of Representatives before the bill came here to the Senate. Then in the closing days of the Senate, prior to adjournment for the holidays, the bill did not come up on the floor of the Senate. So we are back here now, afterwards, to a point where we are dealing with something that is still very important to help dislocated workers and to help bring the economy back from the recession caused by September 11, the war on terrorism, and the attacks against America.”