[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 106 (Thursday, September 9, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S8979]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I will comment on a matter that the 
majority leader raised with regard to the current legislation. The 
Homeland Security appropriations bill is critical legislation. I have 
admonished Members on our side of the aisle to recognize how critical 
it is we finish this work before we leave for the Rosh Hashanah holiday 
next week. It is very important that this work be done. As I understand 
it, we have 28 Senators--on both sides of the aisle--who have 
amendments. We will work with them. Senator Reid has noted that he has 
begun to call each Senator to express the hope that we could winnow 
down the list.
  I noticed as the finite list was established last night that many of 
these amendments are simply listed as relevant. I hope that many of 
these so-called placeholders could be eliminated and we could get on 
with the important work.
  There is a need to work under time limits for each amendment and 
hopefully we can work as late in the evening each day to accomplish 
what is going to be an aggressive schedule as we try to finish this 
bill--I should say, as we finish this bill. We are going to do more 
than try. We will complete it no later than next Wednesday morning, and 
hopefully sooner than that.

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