Chuck Schumer: “Let me explain to the Senator from Iowa what happened, and I realize he has not intended to cast stones. I have been…”

“Let me explain to the Senator from Iowa what happened, and I realize he has not intended to cast stones. I have been lobbying Members on this vote for the last several weeks. As the Senator knows, this amendment held up the bankruptcy bill from being voted on last year because many of us felt so strongly about it. As of yesterday, it looked as if the vote was dead even. That is the count we have. Last night, I called the Vice President and said: It looks dead even. You make a decision, but it is an important issue to us. And he determined to come back. It has nothing to do with theater. It has nothing to do with, frankly, the politics of this campaign. It has to do with the fact that so many of us consider the FACE law--both pro-life and pro-choice--so important that we could not bear to see it undermined, particularly if it lost by a very narrow margin. I do not know what the vote will be. I do not know what kind of arm twisting will go on between now and then. I do know there has been dramatic resistance to this amendment which held up a bill that large numbers of people on both sides of the aisle wanted very much to have come to the floor last year, and I think the remarks of the Senator from Iowa do not fit the facts in this situation regarding the Vice President. I thank him for the graciousness of yielding.”