Thomas Daschle: “my colleagues have just heard an eloquent and extraordinarily persuasive case for the amendment offered by our colleague…”

“my colleagues have just heard an eloquent and extraordinarily persuasive case for the amendment offered by our colleague from South Carolina. It illustrates yet again why it has been such a pleasure for me to work with him on this amendment. He has made the case. But for emphasis let me reiterate a couple of points which he made better than I could. First, with regard to cost, our distinguished Chair this morning--and I think on other occasions--has raised an understandable concern. He correctly noted that the cost of this amendment this year is about $696 million. The cost over 5 years is $5.7 billion. He correctly noted that there isn't any particular offset listed for this benefit. Of course, what we haven't said is that is exactly the situation we will face with the amendment he is about to offer. The only difference is his is $25 million and ours is $696 million. I said the only difference but there is another difference. The amendment requested by the administration for our efforts in Iraq indirectly benefits the United States but directly benefits the people of Iraq. This amendment benefits directly 300,000 people--men and women who are putting their lives on the line in support of their country's efforts in Iraq. It is two-tenths of 1 percent of the entire budget. That is all we are asking--to say with an exclamation point that we support our troops.…”