Political Quotes

“I had hoped to be standing here today making a statement in support of the bill before us. For weeks, Chairman Leahy and I, along with chairs and ranking members of the subcommittees of the Appropriations Committee, worked cooperatively to produce a bipartisan package--a package that includes a continuing resolution to keep the government operating, as well as, two, emergency supplemental funding for disaster relief, and, three, to support those who needed rescuing following the President's hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan. Bipartisan support for anything is a rare commodity around here. Senator Leahy and I know that. But we have experienced bipartisan support with each other in the past, and it works. It is something that should be embraced and, I hope, emulated. We nearly got our work done, as appropriators so often do, but larger forces intervened. We are not by ourselves here. Leadership on the other side of the aisle intervened to pursue partisanship over comity and sabotage over constructive engagement by, I believe, unnecessarily forcing the debt limit increase into what would otherwise be a bipartisan package. The Republican leader, Senator McConnell, has been clear. We will not support any effort to increase the debt limit. The road to success was clearly marked; nevertheless, my Democratic colleagues chose to drive this package right into a ditch rather than embrace a bipartisan path forward. This is not complicated. There is a simple solution.…”