Thomas Daschle: “I regret that we are back into a situation very similar to that which we were in during the debate on campaign finance…”

“I regret that we are back into a situation very similar to that which we were in during the debate on campaign finance reform. The leader, as is his right, has chosen to now fill the tree once more. In so doing, it will now require his consent before anybody has the opportunity to offer an amendment. He has the right. That is the prerogative of the majority leader. But he will determine the relevancy of any amendment. I will say that it is our right to provide the unanimous consent required to move off this legislation for any other purpose. We will certainly invoke that right as the situation warrants. I regret that this is necessary. I regret that we could not take these issues up one by one and resolve them, as I know many colleagues on both sides of the aisle would like to do. We are precluded from that. So we are now faced with a very difficult set of circumstances. I am hopeful that we can find a way to address it. The majority leader has indicated this is an important bill. And certainly it is. I give great credit to the chairman and the ranking member for their work in committee to bring us to this point. There is a lot of work that needs to be done, and I hope we can get it done. But it isn't the only important bill.”