Chuck Schumer: “I thank my friend from Nevada. In terms of what I would like to ask him, he is certainly right. New York, without the…”

“I thank my friend from Nevada. In terms of what I would like to ask him, he is certainly right. New York, without the majority leader, would be virtually nowhere. He has stood firm for us and he has tried in every way to help New York, whether it be on the DOD authorization bill, in terms of the financing we need, along with the Finance Committee, Chairman Baucus, and the majority whip. He has helped us look for tax cuts that keep businesses in New York. In fact, it has been this Senate, under his leadership, that has sort of had its finger in the dike. Have we gotten everything we wanted? No. Have we done very well because of Tom Daschle? You bet. I would like to ask a question, and the Senator mentioned it as I rose. If this man were so obstructionist, why would he be proposing a comprehensive package that has a large number of the proposals that the folks from the other side came up with? The Domenici proposal is a tax cut. It is a tax cut that goes to business, it is a tax cut that creates jobs, and it seems to fit a lot of the guidelines for which many colleagues on the other side are asking. The majority leader of this side takes a giant step across the aisle and says, OK, we are going to take a lot of the things you have proposed, even though we might prefer actually to get the economy going in other ways, but this is a decent way to do it, so we are going to reach out to you. I think it is a brilliant step.”