Thomas Daschle: “I have to rise to express my frustration with our current circumstances. I have been doing all I could to assure that we…”

“I have to rise to express my frustration with our current circumstances. I have been doing all I could to assure that we could bring this bill to closure. We agreed to a limited number of amendments. We agreed to time limits on those amendments. We have agreed to try to accelerate the consideration of this bill in every way, shape, and form. Now we are told we cannot have a vote on final passage until Tuesday. That is totally inexplicable. We have been told over and over and over again this bill is so important and time-sensitive. We have been told it cannot wait. We have been told we cannot take up other legislation because we do not have time. We have been on this bill for a couple of days. We have addressed every concern Senators have raised. We have offered amendments. We have no reason this bill could not be completed today--no reason at all. It is very hard for me to understand why, after all of this effort to bring us to this point, to have completed our work on the bill, we cannot bring this bill to closure, we cannot move on to other legislation. There is just no reason for it. I am very disappointed. It is very hard to ask my colleagues day after day to cooperate, day after day to try to figure out a way to complete work on bills, and then be told: Well, we have changed our mind. We don't want to complete work on a bill. We are going to bump this bill into next week. And, by the way, we are going to make up reasons to have votes.”