Thomas Daschle: “I appreciate very much the desire of the majority leader and our friends on the other side of the aisle in addressing…”

“I appreciate very much the desire of the majority leader and our friends on the other side of the aisle in addressing many of these issues. He mentioned the JOBS bill, welfare reform reauthorization, and the importance of reaching some agreement on energy. I have indicated on several occasions that we are more than prepared to work through each one of these bills. We simply want to be heard on amendments about which we care a great deal. I will not ask consent to do it this morning, but I would entertain a unanimous consent agreement to go to the energy bill today and work through the amendments. I think there would be a good debate. Ultimately, there could be a conclusive debate about the energy bill. We will see what happens in our work with the House, which we have had to do now on several occasions. The same is true with the FSC/ETI bill. We would be prepared to go to the floor with a number of amendments. People on the other side of the aisle, for whatever reason, have refused to allow us an opportunity to have an up-or-down vote on protecting worker's overtime, on minimum wage, and on unemployment compensation. There are other outsourcing amendments that we think ought to be debated. What better place to debate them than on a bill that relates to international commerce. It isn't our unwillingness to have a good debate; it is our unwillingness to be locked out of the process.”