Thomas Daschle: “Mr. President, a couple of things have occurred over the weekend that I feel deserve the attention of the Senate with…”

“Mr. President, a couple of things have occurred over the weekend that I feel deserve the attention of the Senate with regard to the issue of nuclear waste. I would like to address both of them, if I could, briefly. This morning, in the Washington Post, the main editorial made quite a point of saying that the bill we are considering today is wasteful because, in a sense, we are rushing to a decision that the Post argues ought to be considered with greater care. The editorial makes a couple of very important points. I will quote one in particular: . . . the nuclear lobby is pushing a bill to designate an ``interim'' storage site in Nevada that would not have to meet all the standards of a permanent facility. Mr. President, that is an issue that I think does not get the attention it deserves from our colleagues as they are considering this matter. Clearly, if we are considering a site of any magnitude, for any length of time, that site ought to be required to meet the same high standards of public health protection as the permanent site. The editorial is right on point.…”