Dusty Johnson: “This is not some legislation which the Democratic Party is somehow trying to shove past our colleagues on the other side…”

“This is not some legislation which the Democratic Party is somehow trying to shove past our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. In fact, Senator Stevens voted for this bill. We had unanimous bipartisan support in the Appropriations Committee by the people who focused very closely on this and attended the many hearings that went into the legislation. If I understood the Senator correctly, Senator Lott as well would just as soon see this legislation move forward now. I think it does need to be clear that this is not some sort of partisan, one-party-against-the-other gridlock. This is an instance where a small handful of people are using and manipulating the rules of the Senate to thwart the will, not just of one political party but the large overall majority of the Senate who would wish to go forward. So we have heard references to obstructionism around this Chamber over the course of this past year. I ask the Senator, what is the source of the obstruction on this legislation and why are we not proceeding with it and the whole array of additional legislation which the majority leader has outlined for us just today, which is daunting in terms of the scope and breadth of legislation this body is obligated to deal with in the coming couple of months. But we cannot begin to even move on that unless we take care of this urgent matter.”