Arlen Specter: “at the outset, I thank the distinguished majority leader for calling this bill to the floor. In the past, we have had…”

“at the outset, I thank the distinguished majority leader for calling this bill to the floor. In the past, we have had difficulties scheduling the Labor-HHS bill. Sometimes this very important appropriations bill has not received full Senate action. So I thank Senator Frist for arranging the business of the Senate to take up this bill. I also thank the majority leader for his exhortation of Members to be organized, to bring their amendments to the floor. This is a very complicated bill and one where we expect a great many amendments. One of the institutional problems of the Senate has been that when a bill is pending, the Senators do not come forward promptly with amendments to move the bill along. For countless hours, we have sat on this floor with the two lights on in a quorum call, which is our technical way of saying, you do not have a quorum of Senators on the floor, a majority; but what it really is, is a delaying practice, when there is nobody present to carry forward the business of the Senate. In consultation with the majority leader, I announced last night, while a majority of the Senators were present, that we were going to be pressing ahead on amendments, and that I was going to urge the leader to go to third reading, which is a technical word for final passage, if amendments were not offered. Senator Harkin, the distinguished ranking member, whom I thank for his cooperation on this bill--he and I sent out a letter stating the same thing.…”