John Kerry: “All right. Mr. President, let me just say a few words on the issue of the Y2K. I have been working quietly with a number…”

“All right. Mr. President, let me just say a few words on the issue of the Y2K. I have been working quietly with a number of colleagues in order to try to see if we cannot come to some sort of compromise. I heard the Senator from Arizona assert that the principal reason that we are where we are right now is because the revenue stream for lawyers, for trial counsel, might be somehow impacted, and that is the sort of overbearing consideration that has brought us to this point of impasse. Let me just say as directly and as forcefully as I possibly can that there really are public policy considerations that extend beyond that. I have tried cases previously as a trial attorney. I understand the motivations and needs to certainly have a client base which allows you to survive. I have seen some ugly practices out there, and I have joined in condemning them as a Member of the Senate and also as a member of the bar. I do not think any of us who are members of the bar take pride in the practices of some attorneys who have obviously given the profession a bad name at times and have abused what ought to be a more respected and sacrosanct relationship in the country. But at the same time, just as with any business--whether it is Wall Street and brokers or businesspeople who are manufacturers who somehow put a product on the marketplace that cost lives--there are always exceptions to fundamental rules.”