Thomas Daschle: “once again, we hear the eloquent passion of a Senator who cares deeply about an issue. I applaud him for that passion…”

“once again, we hear the eloquent passion of a Senator who cares deeply about an issue. I applaud him for that passion and his compassion for those who are now out of work as a result of layoffs in Minnesota. I understand how deeply felt his views are. He has expressed, in his own eloquent way, that it is within his right to object tonight. Each Senator has enormous power to stop things. Each Senator has enormous power to change the legislative process. The majority leader, on several occasions, could have thwarted this process, avoided regular order, prevented Senators from the opportunity that I believe we will have next week to offer amendments. He could have done a number of things using his rights, first as a Senator and, secondly, as a leader, to undermine what we have delicately constructed here in this new bipartisan environment. He could have done that. Senator Lott chose not to do that.”