Does the overwhelming support augur well for the House vote itself?
I must say that 37-5 is a pretty good percentage. If we can hold that percentage, it would be great. I doubt that we can, but it was a spectacular showing to the House of where the Committee thinks the issue is and the importance of where the relationship is and where it is going. We now take this to the floor with a great deal of confidence. I know some of my Republican friends were saying the Democrats weren’t strongly supportive of this, and they have some other considerations that they are talking about. (But) There were more Republicans who voted against it than Democrats (Three Republicans, Jim Leach of Iowa, Chris Smith of New Jersey and Ted Poe of Texas, voted against, as did two Democrats, Diane Watson and Barbara Lee, both from California). When you mentioned the Republicans were you referring to the charge that the Democrats were dragging their feet in order to deny President Bush a win in a major foreign policy initiative in the run-up to the November elections? That was to
