Thomas Daschle: “I simply add to the comments I have just made to the Senator from Oklahoma, that we are going to finish the debate on…”

“I simply add to the comments I have just made to the Senator from Oklahoma, that we are going to finish the debate on homeland security, even if it is the night before the election. So I want those Senators on both sides of the aisle thinking that somehow this is going to go away to be very clear. We have voted now on cloture five times: Three times on the pending bill, the original bill, and twice on the Republican amendment--twice on the Republican amendment. I have offered the Republican leadership the opportunity for an up- or-down vote on the Republican amendment, and I am still told that is not good enough. For the life of me, I do not know what else to do. But we will continue to have cloture votes. We will continue to stay here. To the extent we can, we will interrupt--and I use that word ``interrupt'' as opposed to ``displace''--homeland security with other pieces of business so we do not keep spinning our wheels. If it is November 4, we will be here. If it is November 7, we will be here. I have heard there are those on the other side who believe somehow they can make this a political issue if we just drag it out and blame the Democrats. We are not going to do that. I think the record is abundantly clear who is holding this up. We will vote on it. We will vote on final passage at some point this fall. I just want to make sure my colleagues all understand that.”