Political Quotes

“Let me take a moment to briefly review my concerns. First, I requested that certain discrimination prohibitions concerning service contracts be applied to carriers only when they are working together, not when they are operating as individual companies. Second, I sought to amend the forest products definition to incorporate certain products, such as laminated beams or panels. And third, I wanted shippers and carriers to be able to keep confidential the essential terms of their service contracts. Since the markup, there has been a sincere effort by all parties to work with me. Mr. President, throughout this consensus building process, the Committee was dedicated to working through my concerns, and I believe that the Majority Leader did his best. Common ground was found on the first two of my concerns. I appreciate the modification of the service contract discrimination provisions so that they apply only to carriers when they work collectively. This modification is particularly important to me and to my shippers in Washington state. I also appreciate that the definition of forest products was modified as I requested. Regrettably, we were unable to reach an agreement on the confidentiality for service contracts. We explored the idea of not requiring carriers to publish information regarding volume, but this, unfortunately, was rejected. Mr. President, I would like to reserve the right to address the confidentiality issue in an amendment when the full Senate considers this bill.”