Thomas Daschle: “There is an ongoing filibuster on this amendment, but not on this side. It is not on this side. There is no question…”

“There is an ongoing filibuster on this amendment, but not on this side. It is not on this side. There is no question that, on controversial issues, this Senate must acquire 60 votes to pass an amendment. The Senator from Idaho has offered an amendment that does not have the requisite 60 votes. The Senator from New Mexico and others on our side have offered an alternative that we acknowledge does not have 60 votes. Over the course of the last several weeks, we have attempted to find common ground and, at least to date, have failed. In fact, I recall vividly last week on the floor the Senator from Idaho indicated they were going to make another effort yesterday to attempt to reach that common ground. That has not happened. So it is fair to say that both sides have failed to reach the Senate requisite for controversial amendments, which is 60 votes. We had offered a procedural compromise since we could not find a substantive one. That compromise would be to have side-by-side votes, to indicate that there is support, but not the level of support required under Senate rules. That, too, failed.”