Edward M. Kennedy: “I want to thank the majority and minority leaders. We have made good progress even though there were not a great many…”

“I want to thank the majority and minority leaders. We have made good progress even though there were not a great many votes. Many of the issues we did discuss and were able to work out. There are a definable number of important measures that are left. We would like to finish with some of the measures that we left unfinished earlier today. But we have some amendments by Senator Coats and Senator Lieberman about private school choice that we will address tomorrow; a Grassley-Thurmond amendment on psychiatric counseling. Also, Senator Helms has several amendments that we have yet to deal with. There are amendments by Senator Stevens regarding Alaskan natives which we are working on. Senator Dorgan has a pending amendment with regard to guns in schools which we are working on; Senator Gorton has an amendment on the issue of school discipline which we hope to work out. There may be other amendments. We are not inviting them. But we would hope that if there are other amendments that Senators will have notified Senator Jeffords or me so we can make sure that we are attending to the interests of the Members. We will proceed through tomorrow, hopefully reduce the number of amendments, and move toward a successful conclusion.”