Thomas Daschle: “I appreciate very much the cooperation of the majority leader in accommodating Democratic Senators and Republican…”

“I appreciate very much the cooperation of the majority leader in accommodating Democratic Senators and Republican Senators who wish to offer amendments. There were two issues here. One was the opportunity to offer amendments. This unanimous consent request does that. People can vote up or down on the amendments and can certainly vote up or down on the bill. The second issue was one relating to the IRS bill. It was our view that the bill reforming the IRS needed to be brought to the attention of the Senate and needed to be scheduled. The majority leader has acknowledged the need to do that as well, and he has given me a commitment that we will take up the IRS bill prior to the end of March. So given his commitment to address the IRS and to allow amendments to be offered, that will, in my view, certainly provide us with an opportunity to move forward.”