Byron Dorgan: “I wish to say a word this morning about a column that was printed in the Washington Post this morning on the op-ed page…”

“I wish to say a word this morning about a column that was printed in the Washington Post this morning on the op-ed page that was taking the majority leader of the Senate to task, and doing so, I think, unfairly and certainly inaccurately. The column criticizes the majority leader for saying the Senate's time was 'too precious' to expend on what would have been unlimited debate on an unlimited number of Republican amendments to the immigration bill. The intent of this column in the newspaper is to say that the majority leader was responsible for failing to allow consideration of the immigration bill. I don't know what Mr. Will, who wrote this column, was watching last week. I know Paris Hilton was being taken back and forth between her house and the sheriff's office and court and jail, apparently, and the country must have been riveted on that story. But C-SPAN would have availed a columnist of a pretty good look at what the Senate was doing, and not just for last week but for 2 weeks the Senate dealt with the subject of immigration.”