Ron Wyden: “I think Senator Daschle has given an excellent statement tonight and has come back to what I think is the central…”

“I think Senator Daschle has given an excellent statement tonight and has come back to what I think is the central concern of our time, and that is that the people of this country want to see bipartisan cooperation on all the central matters that are before the country. The tax legislation before us directs Federal law enforcement officials to criminalize the pain management decisions of our health care providers in an effort to throw Oregon's assisted-suicide law into the trash can. More than 50 major health organizations have said that they oppose this effort in this legislation because they believe the bill before us is going to have a chilling effect on pain management. It seems to me what Senator Daschle is saying tonight--and I am interested in his thoughts--is that on an issue such as this, one of the most important bioethical decisions of our time, what the Senate ought to do is have a real debate, a real discussion, a chance to work in a bipartisan way rather than proceeding as we are now to establish new rules on one of the most sensitive, ethical, and social issues of our time without any opportunity to review it or modify it.”