Arlen Specter: “I am not going to ask for any additional time, Mr. President, because of the interruptions and the disorder--all of…”

“I am not going to ask for any additional time, Mr. President, because of the interruptions and the disorder--all of which is directed--to finish my sentence--to the companies which sustained financial hardship. I made a repeated offer, yesterday and today, in speaking about the bill, inviting any Senator who has a constituent who has a problem to come talk to us. We will try to work to a solution of the problem. And you do not have to have a Senator if you are a constituent. If anybody is watching these proceedings on C-SPAN2, come to my office. My staff and I, Senator Leahy and his staff, and the Judiciary Committee generally, will try to find an accommodation and an answer. The Senator from Vermont is back on the floor. I am glad he has come back because I wanted to make this comment about the bipartisanship of the Judiciary Committee, what we have accomplished, as a sign for what this body can do. It is an open secret that the rancor and the partisanship and the bickering is at an all-time high in the Senate--an all-time high. And there is much talk about the good old days when there was comity and there was collegiality in the Senate. Well, Senator Leahy and I have restored that to the Judiciary Committee. And we have produced this bipartisan bill on asbestos reform. We do not make any representation that it is a perfect bill or that it is a bill which cannot be improved. We are open for business to improve and change the bill.…”