Patrick Leahy: “I have stated my disagreement with those who will vote for this. But I also know that many on both sides of the aisle…”

“I have stated my disagreement with those who will vote for this. But I also know that many on both sides of the aisle are moved by their conscience in the way they will vote. I hope no one will seek to punish them. I hope they do not seek to punish Members of this body who vote his or her conscience on this matter--I was concerned to see some of the so-called independent expenditure ads over the weekend that seek to do just that--whether they have been Senators on either side of the aisle who express different views today than they might have expressed another time. I assume they have reasons for doing it. I have tried throughout this debate for several weeks now to state my reasons. My reasons are based, as my reasons are for all votes, on what is best for the country, what is best for Vermont, what is best for the Constitution. None of us owns a seat in this body. Each of us just passes through. Someday I will be gone, just as every other Member now serving in the U.S. Senate will be gone. But when I leave I want to be able to say to my children and my children's children, I did the best I could, and I did those things that prepared you for the future. My children will live most of their lives in the next century.”