Chuck Schumer: “I wish to make a couple of points. The Senator from Texas sees the bill one way, and I respect that, and that is the…”

“I wish to make a couple of points. The Senator from Texas sees the bill one way, and I respect that, and that is the balance between private industry and Government. Obviously, he has built a whole career on minimizing the Federal Government role in every walk of life. It is a philosophy he espouses with a great deal of integrity, intelligence, and fervor, and he has been mighty successful at it, a little too successful over the last 20 years. However, there is another way to look at this bill, and that is in our post 9-11 world. We are so uncertain of what will be happening next: will there be other terrorist incidents? How will they affect us? How many lives will be lost? What should we do to protect ourselves now that we are in a totally brave new world? The bottom line is a simple one, I say to my colleagues, and that is, our No. 1 one goal should be keeping the economy on track during this brave new world. If that means altering the balance between Government involvement and private involvement, so be it.”