Thomas Daschle: “I don't know how many days it is that we have been on the tobacco bill now, but it is clear that we are not making any…”

“I don't know how many days it is that we have been on the tobacco bill now, but it is clear that we are not making any progress. I am increasingly frustrated by the degree to which many of our Republican colleagues, in the name of amending the bill, have stalled, obfuscated and, in many ways, attempted to defeat the legislation without any real sign of progress, without any real sign of coming to closure, without any real effort to find some resolution. I have expressed my continued patience, my continued desire to find ways in which to move this legislation along. I give great credit to the manager of the bill, the chairman of the Commerce Committee, Senator McCain, for his tireless efforts to move both sides along. This has not worked. We have continued to be thwarted in the name of compromise, and in the name of negotiation, and in the name of consultation. Frankly, I don't know what other options there are but to file cloture on the bill. We may not win. I am prepared to acknowledge that unless we get many of our Republican colleagues to join us, we will not win. But I also understand that if we don't move this legislation forward, we will continue to be in a position of having to say no to other bills the majority leader may wish to bring up until we resolve this matter. We have said, as late as Tuesday, that we are not in a position to move to any other legislation until we finish this bill. I don't know how we can say it more clearly than that.”