Arlen Specter: “under arrangements worked out between the leaders of the two parties, we will be open for amendments tomorrow. Senator…”

“under arrangements worked out between the leaders of the two parties, we will be open for amendments tomorrow. Senator Leahy and I wrote to all Senators back on January 24, urging Senators to let us know what amendments they intended to offer so that we could schedule the business of the Senate. I renew that request at this time. We have a bill where, as previously announced, we are open for modification. During the some 36 negotiating sessions which Judge Becker and I have presided over during the course of the past 2\1/2\ years, we have made many modifications. We accepted many amendments in committee. Some were voted upon and defeated. But we are interested in making this the best bill we can. We have carried the offer beyond amendments. If any companies are having special problems, we are interested to hear of the problems to see if we can find a way to accommodate them. We are dealing here with an enormously complex subject and we have limited time. In order to manage the bills, in order to conserve the time of the Senate, it is our request that Members bring forward to us amendments they want to have offered, which they intend to offer, with suggestions for time limits so we can proceed to manage the bill. There has been extensive debate on the bill. The Washington Post reported today about the success of moving forward with the motion to proceed and, as I say, tomorrow we will be proceeding with the amendment process.…”