Arlen Specter: “I had sought to discuss with the Senator from Colorado some of the provisions of the PATRIOT Act. In view of the limited…”

“I had sought to discuss with the Senator from Colorado some of the provisions of the PATRIOT Act. In view of the limited time, I will make a few comments. It is my hope that we can yet pass the conference report and the PATRIOT Act. When cloture was turned down on Friday, I reached out on Saturday to see if we could find some way to come to some agreements while the House was in town where we could have gotten some modifications on the conference report. That is not possible now; the House is out of session. There was no one in the House to have an extension of time. Senator Frist has said publicly, again, within the hour, that he is not going to agree to an extension of time. The President said he is not going to sign an extension of time. So I think what we are faced with at the moment is that we can either sign the conference report, pass the conference report or the act is going to expire. That is not my wish. I have made every effort to turn, twist, and go sideways and backward and forward to get it worked out. I think where we are now is that it is going to take this conference report or it is going to expire. I talked to the majority leader about having another cloture vote. If there would be 7 more Senators who would join the 53 who voted for cloture, we could get it done. I don't disagree with the Senator from Colorado who says that what has gone on here is, in some respect, unworthy of the Senate.…”