Tom Harkin: “I again thank Senator Specter and his staff for all of their hard work in putting this bill together. Senator Specter…”

“I again thank Senator Specter and his staff for all of their hard work in putting this bill together. Senator Specter has done, indeed, a commendable job. He has done so in a professional and bipartisan fashion under very difficult and trying circumstances. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for his patience, his good work, and, above all, his persistence. Again, my good friend, Senator Specter, spoke of the bipartisan effort on this, and that he is hoping the President will sign this bill. I will have something to say about that in a moment. But I want to make it clear that in no way do we want to delay this bill. We ought to get it up and get it through. I am just sorry that we didn't get it up earlier this year. I still feel compelled to say that of the 13 appropriations bills, this is the last one. That should not be our priority. Education and Health and Human Services should not be the last priority. It should not be the last bill up for the fiscal year. It should have been the first bill and not the last bill. But we are here. The fiscal year is drawing to a close, and hopefully we can get this through. But I want to point out that in my role as ranking member, while I will be supportive of Senator Specter in his efforts to get this bill through, I want to make sure that I protect the rights of Senators on this side of the aisle to offer amendments and to debate them in a timely fashion.”