Byron Dorgan: “it is obvious from the most recent discussion between my colleagues--Senator Alexander, Senator Wyden, and others-- that…”

“it is obvious from the most recent discussion between my colleagues--Senator Alexander, Senator Wyden, and others-- that if this had been easy to fix, it would have been fixed. I talked to Senator McCain last evening before we broke, and we talked a bit about the process that brought this bill to the floor of the Senate. This bill came from the Commerce Committee. We tried, during the markup in the Commerce Committee, to reach an agreement about the definition. The definition is really the critical piece here, and we were not successful in the committee. We agreed, when we reported it out of the Commerce Committee, that we would continue to work to try to see if we could find an acceptable definition that would represent a compromise. Frankly, we did that. Senator McCain kept his word. We all continued to talk and work to see if, before we brought this bill to the floor, we would have that agreement. But the fact is, we did not reach an agreement. So now we have very differing views about exactly how we should proceed. For my purpose, it does not matter to me whether the moratorium is 1 year, 2 years, 5 years. That is much less relevant to me than the question of this definition, of exactly what cannot be taxed, exactly what we are doing with the definition, exactly what consequences that definition would have on State and local revenues, and on the taxation of certain products and services.”