John B. Breaux: “let me first express my appreciation for the very kind remarks of the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. I think…”

“let me first express my appreciation for the very kind remarks of the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. I think it is only appropriate to acknowledge that had it not been for his perseverance and determination, we would not be here today. He set a very tough timeline on the Senate for considering this bill. He took it through the appropriate hearing channels in the Senate Finance Committee to bring it to this point. We had extensive staff briefings and discussions among Republican staff and Democratic staff. We had a markup that many people said was really very pleasant. We had differences of opinion, but everybody had an opportunity to be heard. I credit creating that atmosphere to the leadership of the Senator from Iowa. We have had situations during the year--the tax bill is one of them--where we did not follow that process. As a result, perhaps the product was not as good as it should have been. In this case, I think the Senate Finance Committee, in particular, rose to the challenge, and under the leadership of both Senator Grassley and our colleague Max Baucus on our side, we were able to create a cohesive group of men and women who were dedicated to producing a product in a bipartisan fashion. That is exactly what happened with a 16-5 vote on a Medicare reform and prescription drug bill, which would not have been possible had it not been for his strong leadership.”