Don Nickles: “I am disappointed that he did. After the tragedy of September 11, many of us thought it would be very much in our…”

“I am disappointed that he did. After the tragedy of September 11, many of us thought it would be very much in our Nation's best interests for us to be working together to try to pass legislation that is in our national interest. We passed emergency legislation. We passed antiterrorism legislation. We passed spending bills, a lot of which, in some cases, we thought were maybe overly generous. Yet we wanted to do that in a very bipartisan way. Unfortunately, the majority leader is now moving forward with some legislation which, I think we have informed him, leaves a lot to be desired and which doesn't fit into any national criteria as far as a national emergency. It is purely and simply a special interest bill designed and written by special interests. This bill wasn't written by the Finance Committee. It deals with taxes. I am on the Finance Committee. This bill had no input by the Finance Committee. Not one member of the Finance Committee has had any input in this bill. This is a bill written by and for special interests. They did a pretty good job. They benefit themselves by at least $15 billion.”