Political Quotes

“I would like to reiterate something I am sure Senator Feinstein would agree with. First, I thank the majority leader for scheduling our bill early. He scheduled it earlier than any appropriations bill has been scheduled in the last 40 years. The reason I am sure she agrees with that is because she told me that and because not only did the majority leader make this a priority but so did the Democratic leader, Senator Reid, and all of the Democratic Senators. We worked hard to try to set an example for the Senate for the next 11 appropriations bills. According to the Congressional Research Service, this is the earliest the Senate has passed an appropriations bill in the last 40 years. More than that, the vote was 90 to 8, which is an unusually large bipartisan vote for such a large and complex bill. I think that reflects on the fact that more than 80 Senators made contributions to this bill. We processed more than 21 amendments. Our experience is, when Senators have a lot of input into a bill, they are more comfortable with it and more likely to support it. I especially thank not just the leaders but the Republican and the Democratic floor staffs for helping us with this. Passing a bill like this is more of an exercise in human nature sometimes than it is an exercise in policy, and they are the essential grease in making that happen. I thank them very much for it. This is the basic constitutional work of the U.S. Senate.…”