Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I had an opportunity to listen to my friend and colleague from the State of Ohio outline in great detail the efforts that a bipartisan group has been working on for just a month now. It was just a month ago, I was reminded--November 17, apparently-- that I had an opportunity to invite some colleagues over to my house for dinner and conversation. And while it wasn't pizza, it didn't make any difference what we were eating. It was all about the conversation and what we could do to be responsive to the urgency of the need. As my friend from Ohio has said, people in Ohio are suffering. People in Alaska are suffering. People around the country are suffering. And they are looking to us for answers and for hope. I felt on Monday that there was that sense of hope that we could offer. It is not the end-all and be-all in terms of a legislative proposal, but it was a dozen Members, bipartisan--Republicans and Democrats from this body, as well as Republicans and Democrats from the House--coming together over the course of a month, hours on Zoom, digging into the details and the issues in a way that, as someone who has been part of this body now for 18 years, I have not had the opportunity to be as engaged in every level of the debate and aspect as we were in these conversations.…”