Arlen Specter: “At the outset, I express my admiration for the work that the Senator has done. We have worked very closely together on a…”

“At the outset, I express my admiration for the work that the Senator has done. We have worked very closely together on a number of committees, including the Terrorism Subcommittee. I note his comments and concern, which I have heard before, about the balanced budget. When the Senator says that there are offsets, it is my analysis, backed by staff, that the amendment offered by Senator Daschle does not have offsets for the full amount of $3,098,637,000. In the efforts which Senator Harkin and I have made to try to find offsets, we have come to a figure of $2,634,239,000. There is, in Senator Daschle's amendment, a provision for a declaration of emergency which seeks to take this amendment out of the provisions of the Budget Act requiring 60 votes. A concern that I have is that we will structure a bill here which will not be acceptable to both the Congress and the President. We will have another closure of the Government if we send to the House of Representatives a bill which is based on the emergency determination without offsets. I think it is not highly probable--it is virtually certain it will be rejected and we are not going to have this issue resolved.”