Trent Lott: “I do not intend to have this issue come up the last day or the last week of the session, because I think we will have…”

“I do not intend to have this issue come up the last day or the last week of the session, because I think we will have other issues that we would have to deal with or want to deal with and I assume the administration wants to deal with at that point. I presume that we would probably want to look for a date earlier in the month of October, maybe even the end of October. But I think this consent request is an honest one and a fair one for now. I would like to leave it the way it is so that we will have a full panoply of options to make sure we have it brought up at the right time and we can have a full debate and look at all the other things that we need to consider. So I object at this time to changing that date. Let's leave it for the end of the session. I do not intend to bring it up the last day. I don't want to do that. I don't want to go out and be cramped on this issue. I would like to have a free discussion much earlier, but I would like to have a chance to talk to Members who have worked it on both sides--Senator McCain, Senator McConnell, Senator Feingold, the leadership on both sides, the committees that are involved--and come to an understanding and agreement that everybody is comfortable with.”