Thomas Daschle: “while the majority leader and I have profound differences of opinion with regard to the estate tax and what to do with…”

“while the majority leader and I have profound differences of opinion with regard to the estate tax and what to do with estate tax policy, I have been very appreciative of his willingness to work with us to accommodate the opportunity for Senators to offer amendments, which is what this agreement will allow. This is a fair agreement. This isn't everything that our caucus or our colleagues have indicated they would like. There are far more amendments than this agreement will allow. But I underscore a comment just made by the majority leader. This is not going to be the last word on tax policy in this session of Congress. There will be other opportunities. I will do my utmost to accommodate Senators who have amendments they want to offer, if they are not going to be offered as part of this agreement. I thank all of my caucus for their willingness to accommodate this agreement and for the opportunity to work through a very difficult set of procedural circumstances. This is far better than the old way that we were likely to be subscribing to, which is a cloture vote denying amendments of any kind, and maybe even denying an ultimate result. This will allow an ultimate result. I hope we can have a good debate. I hope we can deal with these issues in a way that will afford us a real opportunity to consider alternatives. I think this agreement allows that. I appreciate very much the majority leader's willingness to work with us.”