Tom Harkin: “Mr. President I thank Senator Jeffords. First of all, I thank Senator Coats for his recent statement that he just made…”

“Mr. President I thank Senator Jeffords. First of all, I thank Senator Coats for his recent statement that he just made on the floor. He hit all the right points. He talked about how long this bill had been in the making and the delicate balance that we reached. I thank Senator Coats for his efforts over a long period of time in this area to reach this very delicate balance. I also see my colleague, Senator Frist, on the floor. I want to publicly thank Senator Frist again for his great leadership in this area. I was just looking up today, and it was on May 9, 1995, that Senator Frist held the first hearing on this bill--2 years ago. It has taken us 2 years to get to this point. He has worked day and night on this to try to get it through. Last year we had a lot of problems, and Senator Frist hung in there every step of the way making sure that we got this bill through. It took 2 years. But we now have a well-balanced bill. I want to publicly thank Senator Frist for hanging in there and not giving up. I appreciate that very much. Of course, I thank Senator Jeffords, our leader on the committee, again for leading us in this area. Again, Senator Jeffords was one of the few around here who was there when Public Law 94-142 was passed. He was a leader at that time 22 years ago. He is still here to lead the charge on this landmark legislation.”