Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Oklahoma. I think everybody in this body now knows that I am strongly for this measure. Unfortunately, I think it has created a lot of feelings that really do not work to the benefit of this body. It is my understanding there is an offer from the leader that we will have a vote by Friday next, which means a week from this Friday. I tend to just say what I think. On our side, I think there are real concerns about the process used to bring this amendment to the floor. I think that has created some, unfortunately, very bad feelings which even are enough to affect people's votes. My view has been a little different. I have watched this ethanol amendment go from $1.5 billion in the early part of the 2000s to where it costs $5.7 billion now. It is a triple crown. It is a subsidy, it is a mandate, it is a protective tariff. It should go. I have no question about that. I also want to see this body have an ability to work together. It also gives us a little bit of time to see if we can negotiate some agreement between the Senator from Minnesota and the Senator from South Dakota. That would be the best of all worlds. Whether we can do this, I do not know, but I am certainly willing to try. What I hate to see is this vote get so caught up--which it is now caught up in process--that we have no chance of sorting it out.…”