Byron Dorgan: “Things will slow down a lot if we have a process that tries to partition people off from this. These are important…”

“Things will slow down a lot if we have a process that tries to partition people off from this. These are important issues, and they are not done at the end of the session; they probably should have been done long ago. As we get to the end of the session, I am asking we have conferences. To the extent you are talking to the Speaker, I hope you will encourage them: Appoint conferees, get to conference, and get the business done. That is all I am asking today. I expect to be at a conference next week. Somebody in this Senate said yesterday to a member of the press--I assume it is probably printed today--that the conference report was going to come to the Senate floor by 'magic.' Well, that is a magic carpet that will surprise a lot of Members, I suppose, and will cause a lot of problems. If the Senator will support us in regular order in having a conference in which we can all participate, that is what we expect to be the case in the Senate.”