Chuck Schumer: “at the beginning of this debate I pleaded with my colleagues to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and praise…”

“at the beginning of this debate I pleaded with my colleagues to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and praise God they have. We have. Is this bill perfect? No, far from it. Is it good? A heck of a lot better than the present system, you bet it is. I thank our leader, Senator McCain, particularly for his courage, and Senator Feingold, particularly for his integrity and leadership, and Senator Daschle and Senator Dodd for keeping our party together. I also thank all my colleagues in the Senate. Today and these past 2 weeks represent the Senate at its best. Every time a crippling amendment came up, we rose to the occasion and defeated it. This is the Senate the Founding Fathers envisioned. Mr. President, my guess is, if Jefferson or Madison or Washington were looking down on this Chamber today, they would smile.”