Thomas Daschle: “I share the desire expressed by the majority leader to get this done. I want to publicly, again, commend Senator Leahy…”

“I share the desire expressed by the majority leader to get this done. I want to publicly, again, commend Senator Leahy for all of his leadership and effort to get the Senate to this point. He spoke earlier and I appreciate very much his willingness to stay committed and his persistence in getting the Senate to a point where we actually could see this become law. Maybe there is a way, if we go beyond Commerce jurisdiction, to include the leadership of the Judiciary Committee and the leadership of the Banking Committee and maybe expand it to include a lot more Members than just Commerce Committee members. As Senator Lott noted, we can perhaps try to find another innovative mix of participants. Certainly if this happens, the distinguished Senator from Vermont ought to be a part of the conference. I am sure we can work it out at some point.”