Frank Lautenberg: “If I may ask the Senator a question, this isn't, I take it, your idea of a particularly good way to make reforms in…”

“If I may ask the Senator a question, this isn't, I take it, your idea of a particularly good way to make reforms in something as complicated as Medicare, and I could not agree with you more. This is fast-track legislation, which means--for those who are not familiar with the terminology--that this is supposed to zip through this place. This was not part of the consensus agreement we labored over for months in order to strike a budget agreement that could pass muster and would be a consensus bill. This now is recommended by the Finance Committee in terms of their reconciliation on expenditures. I have been a loyal trooper in defending the consensus agreement. But this, in my view, is certainly outside the pale. I am not any happier than the Senator is.”