Political Quotes

“I am here to join Senator Daines in recommending the Legislative appropriations bill to our colleagues. I note his history lesson--10 years since we passed a Legislative Branch appropriations bill on the floor of the Senate. During none of those 10 years was Senator Daines chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on the Legislative Branch. Things are changing here, and it has been a real pleasure and honor to work with Senator Daines on this bill, which we bring to the floor in a bipartisan manner. Let me be brief in not trying to cover the ground that Senator Daines has already covered, but I agree; I think this is a good bill, one that we can all support. Let me add a few pieces to some of the highlights my colleague laid out for you. The first of those is the fact that this bill commits us to finally restoring GAO staffing to its 2011 levels. This is really important because every dollar we appropriate to GAO gets about a $128 taxpayer return because of the efficiencies they recommend that then get adopted. GAO lost about 343 staff from 2002 to 2003 during the sequester. We are putting them back to the place where they can do important work for us. Second, let me reiterate the important investments we are making in the Capitol Police. The threats that we face and our staff face and visitors face aren't imaginary. Again, it was a year ago last week when a gunman came after our colleagues in the House and the Senate at a baseball practice off campus.…”