Political Quotes

“It has been a half an hour since we had the colloquy about moving forward on the flood insurance bill. My commitment to the Senators from Louisiana and Mississippi was that we would move these amendments along. In fairness, I have to say, if it takes a half an hour to obtain approval on a unanimous consent to vitiate or at least to deem the 30 hours that remain on the motion to proceed to expire so we can move to the body of the bill and amendments--I know the majority leader wants to consider this bill. He would like to do it in the normal, routine way. Amendments are offered, debated, voted on, and move on to the next amendment. But here it is, a half an hour since we entered into that colloquy. We are here on Wednesday to complete the bill. There are about 20 amendments I am aware of--6 or 7 on the Republican side and easily that number on the Democratic side--that Members want to be considered. If this bill is not done, the program expires. I can't, obviously, predict the schedule. The majority leader has that responsibility. But knowing what work we have to do in the remaining weeks, it may be difficult to get time. The majority leader has been extremely generous in providing this time so we could reconstitute the flood insurance program. In the absence of doing so, the flood insurance program will expire, as we move into hurricane season. This is the opportunity to deal with it.”