John Kerry: “let me say on behalf of my colleagues, that with respect to the last amendment, their vote was a reflection, I know, of…”

“let me say on behalf of my colleagues, that with respect to the last amendment, their vote was a reflection, I know, of grave concerns on our side of the aisle about the Senate putting its stamp of approval on a $4,000-per-hour fee. Some may think that is a fee that they are willing to attach automatically based on a date, but I think a lot of people felt very strongly that the independence of the judiciary and its capacity to be able to analyze according to the very same standards in the Gorton amendment--the Gorton amendment borrowed from our bill each of the categories of evaluation that would be applied by the courts. So in effect, they are really mandating an outcome which may or may not fit for one case or another case. I know I heard colleague after colleague suggest to me that, as a Senator, they did not want to approve of a $4,000-an-hour fee. So that is the distinction here. Some were willing to put their approval on it; some were not. But the fact is, the amendment carried by one vote, and that is the will of the Senate. We now find ourselves--I want to express my agreement with the Senator from Arizona--we have traveled a 3-week journey, and we have waded through the most difficult issues. The closeness of the votes on some of them clearly indicates the difficulty of trying to come to agreement, but nevertheless, the Senate has spoken on those. We have resolved the most significant issues--the liability issue, the question of look-back amendments.…”