Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I wish to thank profusely the staff who have worked so hard on this bill. As Senator Byrd said earlier, this takes a lot…”

“I wish to thank profusely the staff who have worked so hard on this bill. As Senator Byrd said earlier, this takes a lot of time, because there are a lot of issues that are affected by this bill. I want to thank Mary Beth Nethercutt on the Appropriations Committee and Terry Sauvain, her counterpart on the minority side. They have done a wonderful job making sure that all the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted and the agreements are made and the agreements to disagree are put on the table. They have done a wonderful job. On my staff, my legislative director Jim Hyland and Robb Woodson, who is the legislative assistant who has done so much to try to make sure that this is a very good and solid bill supporting the District of Columbia. With that, Mr. President, I thank everyone for a job well done and appreciate once again Senator Durbin's cooperation. We have had a great relationship. We have agreed to disagree on some issues, but I think he speaks from the heart, and I understand, even when we disagree, that we want the same goal. For that reason, I know we will have a good bill to come back out of conference for the Senate to adopt, and then we will continue to work with the District government to make sure our views are implemented and their views are implemented.”