Political Quotes

“So I yield myself 10 additional minutes, Mr. President. This bill includes a handful of contentious provisions which were adopted during the course of the markup. There always are contentious provisions in this bill, and the reason we are here is to debate those provisions. Hopefully, we will have that opportunity. Some of the provisions in the bill I support, some of the provisions I objected to in committee and I voted against them. But we should not deny the Senate the opportunity to take up a bill which is essential for the men and women in the military because we disagree with some provisions in the bill. These are legitimate issues for debate, and the Senate should debate them. But the only way we can debate and vote on the issue--the various issues, contentious and otherwise--is if the Senate proceeds to the bill. It has been argued that we should not proceed to consider this bill for a number of reasons: One, because of the don't ask, don't tell provision in the bill. Another one is because there was a cut in the bill to the money requested by the administration for the Iraqi Security Forces Fund. It has been argued there is ``wasteful'' spending that was added by the Armed Services Committee. Another issue is because of the likelihood that nonrelevant amendments, such as the DREAM Act, will be offered.…”