Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator from California. She is a delight to work with. Without disparaging any other Member of the Senate, it is nice to work with former mayors or county executives or even Governors because we are accustomed to making decisions and talking directly and coming to a result. That is what we are able to do. Even when we disagree--which we sometimes do--Senator Feinstein and I are able to keep working on these issues and still try to come to a result. So it is a real privilege to work with Senator Feinstein. I thank her for her courtesy and diligence. Last week we spent an hour and a half on a very small part of this budget--actually, not even part of the budget but a related matter-- making sure we understood all sides of the issues. I don't think in the whole hour and a half there was ever a Republican or Democratic comment. We were trying to find out the right thing to do for our country, which I think is the goal of each of us. There is no need to repeat what the chairman said and said very accurately. I will summarize and comment on a few of the points. I will highlight the areas of agreement, which are, for the most part, a couple of areas where we have different points of view which we are still working on. She emphasized--and I thought it was important to emphasize--that except for disaster spending, this Energy and Water bill is slightly below the spending levels of last year.…”