Tom Harkin: “I want to respond in kind to my good friend and ranking member, Senator Specter, and thank him and thank all of his…”

“I want to respond in kind to my good friend and ranking member, Senator Specter, and thank him and thank all of his staff for a very great working relationship that we have had over many years, especially this year. We have completed our bill in pretty good time. Now we have to go to conference. I am convinced we can have a decent conference and get this bill back, as Senator Specter said, so we will have it done before we go home for Thanksgiving. We have a great bill. It meets the needs of Americans and labor, health and human services, education, and biomedical research. We have met our obligations. This is the bill that helps lift up all Americans, helps address the needs of our human infrastructure in this country, and I believe we have met that obligation to the people of this country in this bill.”