Political Quotes

“I appreciate the very thoughtful comments of the Senator from Rhode Island. He, as always, makes such a valuable contribution in the Senate's deliberations. I think he makes a very valid point with regard to the deliberations of the committee and certainly that would be the normal process that I would want to follow. Indeed, my observation is correct that it is scheduled for markup in committee. There are several factors that make me want to move ahead with the process right now. That is, first of all, the urgency of getting this information while billions of dollars of American taxpayers' money is being committed. My sense is it is very important in terms of timing to get this enacted as quickly as possible. But I want to pledge to the Senator that any adjustments that are made in markup, I will--along with, I know, others and I hope many will be active in--be urging the conferees to adopt so that, first, the deliberations of the committee are not overlooked but are incorporated in this by the conferees; and second, that we move along quickly. The second aspect I might note here is that we have been working with the Treasury people. I want to pledge myself to work with them in terms of fine-tuning reporting requirements. But most of all, I want to know also another factor. This obviously involves more than simply the Foreign Relations Committee. The bulk of the bill is really the work of Senator D'Amato and his Banking Committee.”