Byron Dorgan: “first of all, I am really pleased we finally have the highway bill on the floor. I appreciate the leadership of the…”

“first of all, I am really pleased we finally have the highway bill on the floor. I appreciate the leadership of the chairman and the ranking member. This is an authorization that is, I think, 2\1/2\ years old or so. Many of us have been frustrated. I know the chairman and Senator Jeffords have been frustrated that we have not been able to finish this work. I hope we can finish this bill and move it through the Senate. I wanted to comment about another couple of issues. I am worried about the way things develop here in the Senate. We treat serious things too lightly; we treat light things too seriously. We have, it seems to me, the framework for a huge brawl in the Senate over procedure, and there are so many challenges facing our country that this President and this Congress are not looking in the eye with the thought of responding directly to them. I will mention a few of them today. Politics, regrettably, in recent times has become a sport in which one side trashes the other side, and it is either our way, or no way, or the highway.…”