Patrick Leahy: “First, I do commend my friend from Kentucky, Senator McConnell, who has put together a bill which I believe both…”

“First, I do commend my friend from Kentucky, Senator McConnell, who has put together a bill which I believe both parties, both Republicans and Democrats, can and should support. I should note that last year the foreign operations bill passed the Senate by a vote of 93 to 7, which is pretty darned good for such a piece of legislation. This year's bill I think will pass by an even higher margin. I thank the chairman of the full committee, Senator Stevens, and the senior Democrat on the committee, Senator Byrd, for providing us with an allocation that has made it possible to fund many of the administration's foreign policy priorities, in fact, most of the priorities of Members of the Senate, and that is extremely important as we go into conference with the other body. For the past 3 years, Senator McConnell and I and Senator Lugar and others have argued that U.S. leadership costs money. Senator McConnell has fought efforts in the House to cut funding for programs that are vital to U.S. foreign policy and national security. I think all of us owe him a debt of gratitude for that. I take the attitude, which is the attitude of all Vermonters ahead of me, that in foreign policy matters especially we should try to develop bipartisanship.”