Max Baucus: “to be quite candid, I wish we could accept this amendment. The Senator makes some very good points. The fact is that all…”

“to be quite candid, I wish we could accept this amendment. The Senator makes some very good points. The fact is that all those standards that he seeks are in the underlying GSP provision that is a part of the underlying legislation. That just brought our definitions of core worker rights up to date. As I mentioned before, I hope we can bring the definition of core worker rights in the fast track part of the bill also up to date. The overall objectives and the priority objective in the underlying bill have equal weight. We are splitting hairs. This amendment is very much opposed by many Senators. I am duty-bound as part of the agreement to oppose it. I wish we could accept this amendment because it is one we should be able to accept.”