Political Quotes

“I say to my chairman on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, we talked very briefly on the phone. I wanted to come down here because I find this amazing. I am new around here. I know it has been almost 6 years. I still consider myself new in the process. But late last night, early this morning, I get a notice of a supposed conference committee meeting, which I was totally unaware of, was unaware of the proposals they are putting on the other side. I would like to have time--I know on the other side they talk a lot about transparency and timeliness and making sure the public is aware of what they are doing. But, lo and behold, they just kind of snap together a meeting because they have an idea that they want to move forward. I am all game for more ideas on how to solve the problems with our veterans. But the public demands--demands--us to solve this problem, and also demands it to be done in a transparent way, not in the dark of the night a meeting is called. The chairman of the other side, in this case the Senator from Vermont, the chairman of the Senate committee, is not even notified. I recognize Senator McCain's comments about the courtesy. It should be a courtesy. But on top of it, the basic understanding of compromise and working with each other--that is what has to happen. We are not seeing that. We had a conference committee. We all made 5-minute speeches, grand statements about how to help veterans. We all want to do that.…”