On the recordFebruary 4, 2015
If I could ask the Senator from Virginia to yield for a response without yielding the floor, and I will yield right back to him. I wish to say that the perception of the public is that this is a partisan issue. It is not. The Democratic Senator from Virginia has taken a lead in this effort and committed an extraordinary amount of effort--only to come up short. I have been privileged to work with him and a number of Members from the other side of the aisle together with Republicans, and we see the need to work together on this. We have lacked one thing. We have lacked support from the executive branch. Until we have that, I don't believe we will be able to take serious steps forward in addressing this problem. But that is not something that can be defined as one party versus another. Most of us on both sides of this aisle have recognized the disastrous potential consequences of our not taking action. I appreciate the tremendous work the Senator from Virginia has done in leading this effort, and I know we both regret that we haven't achieved success. I thank the Senator, and I yield back.
