Thomas Daschle: “the Senator from Oregon has stated it so succinctly and so correctly. That is exactly what I am saying. He has noted the…”

“the Senator from Oregon has stated it so succinctly and so correctly. That is exactly what I am saying. He has noted the extraordinary nature of the provision he has cited. There is a great deal of controversy involving the issue, and I give credit to those in Oregon who have tried to grapple with the very personal issue of suicide and physician-assisted efforts involving suicide. As he has noted, a large number of organizations have publicly stated their support for the Oregon law, but the real question is not whether one agrees with the Oregon law or one does not agree. The question is, On a question of this controversy, of this import, of this breadth, should we be forced at 8:15 tonight to be talking about it without having had the benefit of discussion in the full Senate up until now? Not only that, should we take it on a take-it-or-leave-it basis? This has been buried in a bill having nothing to do with physician-assisted suicide. This has a lot to do with taxes. It has a lot to do with school construction. It has a lot to do with health care. It has nothing to do with physician-assisted suicide, and at the last minute, our Republican colleagues put it in there, buried it in the bill and now want us to vote on it, up or down, no debate. That is incredibly bad management. That is so unfair, not only to us--we ought to have the opportunity--but to Oregon, to the country, to the issue.”