Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank the chairman and the ranking member for the work they have done. As I said yesterday, it is fairly exceptional, considering the time it has taken to get to where we are. I understand the amendment that is being proposed and the goal of it, and I have been one of those who have supported the deficit commission, which brought forward some recommendations on how to manage this budget. I have supported multiple efforts on this floor to reduce and manage the budget in the overall scheme of how we move down to sustainability regarding the finances of this country. But this is one bill where you have to take into account not only what is being proposed but what it does and what it will impact. I will use my State as an example. When you think about Alaska, there is no question that when it comes to air travel, no other State has the kind of rural and extended air travel as we have in Alaska. I talked about the Essential Air Service Program yesterday. Forty-four communities are affected by the funding for this program, which serves people who are not next door to any airport and who are not only not just a few miles from an airport, but in some cases, from their airport to a hub, it might be 1,200 miles. So the work and the resources of the Essential Air Service is critical for us to not only conduct business, to move people back and forth between communities, but for medical services. It is really the lifeblood for our communities.…”