Thomas Daschle: “I do not want to delay the vote. I know everybody wants to move on. This issue has two pieces to it. The first is the…”

“I do not want to delay the vote. I know everybody wants to move on. This issue has two pieces to it. The first is the one the Senator from Massachusetts described, relating to our determination to get a vote on the minimum wage. The other is the opportunity we want to be able to offer amendments. A tree was constructed, parliamentarily, to deny Democrats the opportunity to offer these amendments. That is really what this whole arrangement has been all about--denying Democrats the opportunity to offer amendments. We hope that we can accommodate a way with which to deal with Democratic amendments, and it is only through this process that we are going to be able to do that. So I am sorry that Senators are inconvenienced, but there is no other way, short of an agreement on amendments, that we are going to be able to resolve this matter.”