Russ Feingold: “I would rather not, after all the work I have done on this and all the work he has done on this, simply leave this issue…”

“I would rather not, after all the work I have done on this and all the work he has done on this, simply leave this issue to the hope that I or others in the future will have the time, the energy and the interest to focus on this particular matter. There are so many things we need to work on to cut the fat out of the Federal Government. It is incredible. We go home and tell people we finally passed a bipartisan balanced budget, and they look at us skeptically. The first thing I say to them is, ``Don't kid yourself, there is still an awful lot of fat in Washington, an incredible amount.'' The energy it takes to focus on this one particular piece and clean it up is very, very taxing. I can't simply hope that my own ability to pursue this will last forever. Let's face it, these radios have been there for 50 years. I know there are Members here who approach that kind of tenure, but for most of us, we have to try to set something up that we hope will last after we are gone. This is relevant to an interesting point that the Senator from Delaware was making where he eloquently outlined the past, the important role that Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty played during the cold war. But in so doing, he made an interesting comment about how things are different now. He said ``We have gone from cold war to chaos.'' I think that was well said.”