Byron Dorgan: “I wish to make a point. My colleague from Oklahoma was talking about the BRAC funding. I think everybody here supports…”

“I wish to make a point. My colleague from Oklahoma was talking about the BRAC funding. I think everybody here supports the BRAC funding. I certainly do. It is not a part of this agreement, but it is not, as the Senator from Oklahoma suggested, the Democrats' fault. Just so people understand, we inherited a heck of a mess. We inherited a huge mess. What was the mess? The fact is, last year, 10 of the appropriations bills never got to the floor of the Senate. We never got here. They never had any discussion on them. Had that happened, we would have had those appropriations bills passed and signed into law, and we wouldn't be discussing these issues. As a result of inheriting an unbelievable mess, we had to put together something between the House and the Senate. Let me make this point: That which was done between the House and the Senate included discussions with Republicans and Democrats on every single subcommittee. We engaged the staff of the Republicans and the Democrats as this was put together. I wanted to make that point. We inherited a mess. We have tried to make the most of it. This BRAC issue is going to get resolved. I support resolving it. The President is going to ask us for, apparently, $100 billion in the coming couple of weeks.”