Trent Lott: “As a matter of fact, I have two answers. I have suggested to you today, to the leader on your side of the aisle and the…”

“As a matter of fact, I have two answers. I have suggested to you today, to the leader on your side of the aisle and the Senators from North Dakota, there is a way we can get the emergency funding and do it quickly if we make up our minds and are determined to do that while we continue to work on the solutions here. But the other point with regard to the census, the reason why I make the explanation is to show once again an abundance--we can solve this. We can solve this problem, but there is a reason why we have to do it now. The die is being cast; the Census Bureau and the Department of Commerce have indicated we are going to do this. And if we wait until October to deal with this issue, we are going to be in a position of having to reverse something that is already set in place. They are getting ready to do it. So we do not have the luxury of saying, well, we will pick up on this in July or September or October. It would be a fait accompli by then. So that is a consideration. But we will continue to work on that, and we will find--I think we can find a way to do this this afternoon.”