Trent Lott: “we cannot stick our heads in the sand. If we do, we will probably be radioactive. We have to step up to this issue. This…”

“we cannot stick our heads in the sand. If we do, we will probably be radioactive. We have to step up to this issue. This is a bipartisan bill. This is a bill that Senator Murkowski has worked very hard on, as have Senator Craig of Idaho and Senator Bennett Johnston. We cannot just ignore it. Do I want to bring it up now at a time when we are trying to work together to move Presidential nominations, judicial appointments, appropriations bills? No. But I do not have a choice. As majority leader, when I have bipartisan senior leaders of the Congress come to me and say we have a fundamental national issue that must be addressed, I cannot ignore it. Does it eat up time? Yes. We blew 4 or 5 hours yesterday. We could have finished this bill last night or this morning. Are we balled up here now? Yes. Do I want that? No. But can we ignore our responsibility? Absolutely not. Now, let me say again, I am sympathetic to how the Senators from Nevada feel. I know they cannot accept this without a fight. But I ask the distinguished Senator from Nevada to allow us to do our work on the Department of Defense appropriations bill, give us an opportunity to work with him and find any opportunity that we can to be fair and work with him. But we cannot ignore this problem any further. So, again, I wanted to make those points. I think they are very important. I hope that we can work something out. I will be glad to work with the Democratic leader.…”