Dick Durbin: “I will not use the full 2 minutes. Clearly, I believed very strongly that $500 million was the right number. It was the…”

“I will not use the full 2 minutes. Clearly, I believed very strongly that $500 million was the right number. It was the number Senator Frist and Senator Helms proposed. It was a number I compromised to offer to the Senate, but it was not accepted. I am disappointed, but I urge all of my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, to join in supporting the Frist amendment. It will add another $100 million. We need every penny we can get. Senator Frist believes, and he has told me, the administration is going to come through with even more money on their own. I sincerely hope he is right, and I hope we can all stand and applaud the administration for doing that. I urge all of my colleagues now to join in supporting the Frist amendment.”