Thomas Daschle: “Senator Stevens and Senator Byrd came to me a couple of weeks ago and asked for a special exemption from the…”

“Senator Stevens and Senator Byrd came to me a couple of weeks ago and asked for a special exemption from the understanding we have been working under here in the Senate that no official action can take place on any legislation until we have broken the impasse on the organizing resolution and assigned each committee its full complement of members. I, of course, agreed, in the interest of urgency, to allow the Appropriations Committee to work its will and to finish this supplemental, which is what it did. I applaud both of them for taking the action they did. The House, of course, has now acted. Now it is up to us. A couple of days ago the President called me and said: Above all, I hope that you will pass the supplemental before you leave. I gave the President my personal assurance that we would pass the supplemental here in the Senate before we leave. Now I am told that there are some who would prefer to take vacation rather than finish the work. Madam President, we can't do that.”