Bob Corker: “noticing that there is nothing happening on the floor, I want to come down and talk a little bit about the vote that…”

“noticing that there is nothing happening on the floor, I want to come down and talk a little bit about the vote that just occurred on the Tester-Corker amendment. Obviously, I was on the losing side of this debate, but as we went back to our office, I did want to say that one of the folks I have worked with a long time noted that this may be the first time in a long time in the Senate where we had a real bipartisan debate, where we had people on both sides of the aisle, on both sides of the issue in large numbers. While we came up short from my standpoint on the vote--the other side obviously did not come up short--I want to say that I see a glimmer of hope in that regardless of how the outcome may have been on this particular vote--and again, I worked hard to try to pass an amendment that I thought was good policy--the fact is, if you really look at the vote count, I cannot remember in a long time a vote on a contentious piece of legislation such as this where there were so many people in the majority and minority, on both sides of the issue, just evaluating the policy on the grounds on which it was coming forward. So for what is it worth, I thought that was an interesting observation. I want to say to those people who supported the Tester-Corker amendment that I thank them very much for listening and working with us to try to pass the legislation. And for those people who voted against it, I thank them for the way in which this debate was conducted.…”