Thomas Daschle: “The Senator is correct. We have addressed this legislation in the past. As I will make known for the record, this is…”

“The Senator is correct. We have addressed this legislation in the past. As I will make known for the record, this is identical legislation to what was passed before. It is legislation we will take up either under a unanimous consent agreement or through a motion to proceed at some point in the not too distant future. My hope was we could work out arrangements whereby we could expedite the consideration of the legislation. As the Senator has accurately noted, we have addressed this successfully in the past and it is critical that we have an opportunity once again to ensure that this time the legislation does not die in conference. That is what happened. The amendment was dropped in the conference committee, even though the Senate had passed on a bipartisan basis this bill as an amendment to the Defense authorization legislation.”