Orrin Hatch: “Senator Biden and I have been through this before. We might feel differently about things. We want to pass a bill. We…”

“Senator Biden and I have been through this before. We might feel differently about things. We want to pass a bill. We know how important it is. But some on the other side desperately want to make this a gun fight and frankly we have done everything on our side to keep it out of there. Habeas is one reason why our side is willing to keep it out of it, because they recognize that for the first time in years in this country we can correct the habeas corpus problem in this country, of incessant liberal appeals--incessant frivolous appeals. To make a long story short, that should not be allowed. I have a letter here from President Clinton. President Clinton knows I have been trying to accommodate him. He knows I have done everything I possibly can to try to accommodate him on this bill, even though he has had to be dragged along on habeas corpus, he now admits he wants that in this bill. I hope the people on the other side, who are of the same persuasion and party, would support the President. But there is nothing in this letter, three-page letter, single-spaced, from the President, where he suggests what he wants in this bill--that we are trying to solve and we can meet every one of those problems, it seems to me, one way or the other--there is nothing in here about making this into a gun fight or making it into a fight over gun control. I have to say I am very concerned about it because I want this bill to pass.”