Chuck Schumer: “I would like to just say that some of the provisions that are not in this bill--first, the victims relief part of the…”

“I would like to just say that some of the provisions that are not in this bill--first, the victims relief part of the bill is very necessary. We did not want to stand in the way of that. Originally, when the victims relief bill came over to the House, it had provisions to benefit Lower Manhattan. We all know that Lower Manhattan is in real trouble because of what happened on September 11. The great fear is that businesses, large and small, will leave. The fear factor is enormous. Over on the House side, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee worked out a package that would help bring some relief. On this side, Senator Clinton and I worked out a package that had tremendous support in our version of the stimulus bill from the majority leader, as well as the chairman of the Finance Committee. We had spent a great deal of time after it looked as though the stimulus bill was not going to happen, starting yesterday, and finishing about an hour and a half ago, trying to come to a compromise between the House version and the Senate version.”