Political Quotes

“Before the Memorial Day recess, the Armed Services Committee voted 25 to 1 to favorably report out S. 2410, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015. The bill is on the calendar, and both it and the committee report have been filed and are available online and in print. As the chairman and ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, Senator Inhofe and I hope to bring the bill to the Senate floor as soon as the Senate schedule allows. I have talked with the majority leader about it, and he says he is going to do his best, but there are a number of things that we can do to be helpful on this effort. Neither of us wants to be in the position that we were in last year when Senators were unable to take up the bill and vote on any amendments to this important legislation because of how close it was to the end of the session when it was brought up. Both of us are on the floor today urging Senators who are considering amendments to the bill to file them before the July recess. We would then be in a position--both of us, with our staffs--to work with Senators to clear as many amendments as possible for inclusion in a manager's package and to begin identifying relevant amendments that would be likely to be contested. Now, we believe if we can develop a list of a few relevant amendments that would require votes to start with when we first take up the bill, it would help us in getting to the floor.…”