Thomas Daschle: “The distinguished Senator is absolutely correct. This is a critical piece of legislation. We have been waiting for the…”

“The distinguished Senator is absolutely correct. This is a critical piece of legislation. We have been waiting for the House to produce a bill on which we can begin working. They have had some difficulty in arriving at a consensus. As I understand it, as the Senator has noted, the House now does plan to make another effort at reaching a consensus this week. Just as soon as the bill is sent here, I am quite sure the Appropriations Committee will take it up in their committee, and then at some point shortly after that, whenever that time may be, it would be my intention to bring it to the Senate floor for debate and passage. Since we do not know exactly when the House will be able to send us a bill, it is not as clear to me when we can move on the Senate side, but just as soon as we have a bill, we will move.”