John Kerry: “I join the number of colleagues who have spoken on the floor with respect to this agreement. I share both the respect…”

“I join the number of colleagues who have spoken on the floor with respect to this agreement. I share both the respect and admiration that have been expressed for the leadership for the work they have done in order to bring us here. Particularly, I know the Senator from Mississippi, Mr. Lott, worked hard within his caucus and had to be particularly persuasive in order to reach this accord. I think this agreement respects the outcome of the election this year. It is a reflection of the closeness of the division in the Presidential race. It is, in my judgment, a fair and accurate reflection of what happened in the Senate itself with the losses that took place on one side of the aisle and a result that ended up with 50 Senators in both parties. I have argued since day one that the only fair way, and the only sensible way, to try to bring the country together and set the stage to be able to reach the compromises we needed to reach was to reflect the representation of the Senate as a whole in the committee structures.”