Russ Feingold: “If I could make a brief comment, as did my leader, Senator McCain, I thank the majority leader for his cooperation on…”

“If I could make a brief comment, as did my leader, Senator McCain, I thank the majority leader for his cooperation on this, coming to this agreement. I especially thank the Democratic leader, who has not only provided our Democratic unity on this issue, but has also worked so effectively to help us come to this agreement. I also thank the Senator from Michigan, Mr. Levin, who is not with us on the floor at this time, for his tremendous efforts on this. I reiterate two points the Senator from Arizona has made. One is that this, fortunately, through the cooperation of everybody, will be a truly open process. Senator McCain and I have been very involved in this issue. But we are certainly not the only people who know a lot about this issue. Every Member of the Senate is an expert on campaign finance reform. That means it is essential that every Senator have an open chance to participate in the amending process. I believe that is what this agreement truly does. The second is to simply agree with the Senator from Arizona that we want to finish as fast as we can, within the bounds of giving everybody a chance to participate. We hope to finish before the Easter recess. But we will make sure that this matter comes to a vote up or down in the end and that is our understanding in going forward with this agreement. I thank the leader.”