Mike Enzi: “I do want to take a few minutes to thank the leaders, particularly the majority leader, who, after some difficulties…”

“I do want to take a few minutes to thank the leaders, particularly the majority leader, who, after some difficulties last week, helped to smooth some things out and make it possible for us to move on a little bit on the bill. His coordination and leadership were indispensable. I thank the Republican leader for the way he participated in the bill and, again, made sure we were working across the aisle and getting difficulties smoothed out. I definitely wish to thank the chairman of the committee for the outstanding work he did through the entire process. As we mentioned a number of times, it has been a very lengthy process, but he has always been so forthright and knowledgeable and willing to work under all kinds of circumstances and difficulties. Because of his dedication and abilities, I have learned a lot about running the committee from him and I have learned a lot about getting a bill passed from him and have enjoyed working with him over the last 2 years on a number of bills. I thank the staff people who have worked so hard. They have spent many evenings and even weekends away from their homes. They worked virtually through the night to get some of these issues worked out. The way we work a bill, it is a work in progress until it is finished. It is not finished yet; we have got to work with the House side yet, and we will do that. This is such an important bill for the country.”