Arlen Specter: “I thank my colleagues from Iowa and Montana for their responses. I appreciate their considerations. It would be my hope…”

“I thank my colleagues from Iowa and Montana for their responses. I appreciate their considerations. It would be my hope, as I said earlier, that they would recognize the exigencies of this situation and permit us to proceed. But in light of their statements that they intend to object, which I understand will follow, I inquire of my colleague from Montana, who is now chairman, and of my colleague from Iowa, who hopefully by this time tomorrow will have the resolution passed to shift the chairmanship, whether there might be an early hearing set in the Finance Committee. I am in line to be chairman of the appropriations subcommittee having jurisdiction over the Department of Labor. And Senator Harkin and I have agreed to have a hearing on this next week. But the authorizing committee has the paramount responsibility. There is a U.S. Bankruptcy Court hearing on this matter on Wednesday. I do not think we have a problem about the solvency of US Airways being involved as I thought there might have been several weeks ago. But I think the court might be willing to defer action which touches upon these issues if there was knowledge that there was going to be expedited treatment.”