Pete Domenici: “I say to Senator Coats, I think oftentimes in the Congress it takes a lot longer for good things to get done than…”

“I say to Senator Coats, I think oftentimes in the Congress it takes a lot longer for good things to get done than anybody around would ever imagine. I believe the cause that the Senator is talking about here today is one of those. The reason I helped on the floor is because it is inconceivable to me that we will not make the Coats legislation the law of the land, it has such overwhelming support in this body. If you really have a vote in the House of Representatives, it has overwhelming support there. I am very sorry we are going to conference with a major piece of authorizing legislation that was not in the House bill--that I could not succeed in keeping it there. Obviously, the House has different factions in regard to this bill. We were caught by those factions and something procedural that is not part of the Senate's business. We did the right thing here in the Senate to give it a try. I thank you for your kind remarks this morning. I think we did everything we could and still get a bill on appropriations.”