Thomas Daschle: “I share the view expressed just now by the majority leader. Certainly, our chairs and ranking members have done an…”

“I share the view expressed just now by the majority leader. Certainly, our chairs and ranking members have done an outstanding job. I especially want to commend the dean of the Senate, our former majority leader, Robert Byrd, and his colleague, Phil Gramm, and others who had so much to do with making this possible. This has been an effort that will have extraordinary consequences for years to come, both in terms of infrastructure and an array of different questions that we have to address. This has been an issue that Senator Byrd has instructed and educated the Senate about for many, many months. It was his leadership and diligence, along with Senator Chafee and Baucus and Senator Warner and so many others, that brought us to the successful conclusion that we have now achieved. I commend them. I thank them. And I hope we can use this as a real model for other pieces of legislation that may come before the Senate this year.”