Political Quotes

“Somebody said: ``You are young.'' Only in the U.S. Senate would that be true. But I know the Presiding Officer, who is the chair of the important Appropriations Committee, is retiring this year. I was sitting here as I was getting ready to speak, thinking that you have seen it all, Mr. President. You have seen it all. Unlike almost anybody else in this Chamber, you have actually seen a functioning U.S. Senate. You have seen the Senate where the floor was filled with people having a debate; where filibusters actually had to happen out in public, not in secret in a Senator's office; where people were not spending 80 percent of their time in call rooms fundraising instead of being out here on the floor doing the American people's business, as Senators will see; that actually passed important pieces of legislation that made a difference to the American people and made our country more competitive, made us stronger. You are one of the last people here who saw a Senate that worked like that. The Republican leader has been here long enough to have seen a Senate that worked like that. You were here, I am sure--I know you were, Mr. President--in 2006 when you were passing the Voting Rights Act here with 98 votes. Ninety- eight to zero the Voting Rights Act passed in 2006. The Republican leader of the Senate then, the senior Senator from Kentucky, Senator McConnell, voted for that bill. It wasn't even close, from his perspective.…”