John Kerry: “Let me join the Senator from Arizona in simply saying that I think this was an important step forward today in a lot of…”

“Let me join the Senator from Arizona in simply saying that I think this was an important step forward today in a lot of respects. Neither the Senator from Arizona nor I want to sort of overly characterize what it may mean in the total yet, but it does open up the opportunity for the Senate to now move to the two remaining, most significant issues and then lay the groundwork to have, hopefully, an order of amendments for the following ones. I think it is not insignificant, therefore. The last week permitted us, frankly, to be able to work quietly behind the scenes to be able to arrive at some understandings about the structure of the tax component of the bill. And while there are two alternatives being offered, the fact is that for a week we have understood that embracing a component of the tax cut in this legislation was not inappropriate--in fact, might not only be a necessary ingredient of passing it but also an important reality for the amounts of money that are being raised in the revenues. So I think we are on a track where we have the ability tomorrow to make again some significant progress.”