Pete Domenici: “Might I say, Senator, your concern about the impact has gone on so long that one wonders how much impact you really…”

“Might I say, Senator, your concern about the impact has gone on so long that one wonders how much impact you really need. We did expose this entire proposal, put it online so everyone could see it. Maybe your staff or you did not see it, but we did that as a new way to expose it. Then we had a meeting and you had every opportunity to offer amendments. And you did. You and your staff somehow got in your craw here that because you were not sitting around the table when it was drafted, that is justification for you to remain against this bill. Let me state, it is not Bill Frist's problem that we do not have this bill. Has the Senator seen what happens to bills that have an open end on amendments? I think the Senator has. The Senator is a very good Senator. They get nowhere because all kinds of amendments are offered. That is what will happen to this bill. I say to the Senator and his staff, you can offer 25 amendments around to people so they can offer them. They are not very important, but they can offer them. I say to the Senator, I did not mean you would, but that can happen, and they would not be important. They would make us vote on them, and we would get no bill. Now, the minority leader has been urging we move ahead. I am very proud of him. He has been urging that you limit the amendments, and it is on deaf ears.”