Political Quotes

“I think today has been an interesting day here in the Senate. We have been trying--the Senator from Maryland and I--to get the bill we have been talking about to the floor so people will have an opportunity to offer their amendments, to debate their amendments, and we in the Senate will be able to vote them up or down. That is what this process is about. Although I know it is getting late in the evening, I am hoping we can lock in some time agreement with the leadership. I am sure Senator Reid and Senator McConnell are working on that, as well as Senator McCain and Senator Coburn. But if we could get started on this tomorrow and have a healthy debate, there are some issues that ought to be brought up. I wish to take a few minutes to review a few of the outlines of what we hope to accomplish this week--what is in this bill and what is not. What this bill would do is allow agencies the additional ability to address priorities in light of sequester cuts. We all know they were Draconian--good policy, as I said, but bad process. The proposed legislation the Senator from Maryland and I are bringing to the floor, hopefully, is in full compliance with the spending caps required by the Budget Control Act, and it brings, with the sequester, the total to under $1 trillion. So we are doing some serious cutting, but we ought to do it wisely by what we do. Both sides have given in to get to where we are.…”