Thomas Daschle: “If I could again reconfirm that unless we address a number of these issues, the Secretary himself has indicated that it…”

“If I could again reconfirm that unless we address a number of these issues, the Secretary himself has indicated that it presents some serious problems for him, and he would advise we either amend the legislation or support an alternative. So I am hopeful that whether it is through an amendment, as I will be proposing later on, or through an alternative draft, as the Senator from Ohio is proposing, we will be able to address it in a meaningful way. Again, I would like to address it through amendments that we will be offering, but whether it is through amendments or in some manner, I think the deficiencies outlined by the Secretary ought to be of concern to everybody. It is in our interest and I think in the country's interest to try to do a better job of addressing the concerns than we have right now.”