Political Quotes

“As she usually does, the Senator from California said directly what the situation is. We on the Republican side understand that the majority leader has some important business he has to make sure the Senate finishes this week. We, as would many Democrats, want us to get to the Defense authorization bill before we go home. Senator Reid wishes to do that. We respect that and we agree with that. Senator Reid wishes to make sure we have a chance to deal with the conference report that the House is expected to pass on Thursday, which contains a continuing resolution to fund the government to mid- December. We understand that as well. That gives us a little time here, a day or two, to consider the Energy and Water appropriations bill that Senator Feinstein has described. It has broad consensus here in the Senate. It has no mandatory spending in it. It has an important defense component-- nuclear weapons nonproliferation. It has a great many nondefense items that are important to the growth of our country. It seems on the Republican side--I can speak for that--there is broad consensus. At Senator Reid's request I checked with many of our Republican Senators, asked them how many amendments they have and whether they thought they could bring them to the floor today or tomorrow morning so we could deal with them tomorrow, at the latest Thursday morning. So far the news has been encouraging.…”