Political Quotes

“I stood in that debate. I remember the debate well. When you compare this week's debate to that debate of 20 years ago when we had something like 115 or 116 amendments, maybe more, they were fully debated amendments. We had the give and take, back and forth over the wisdom or demerits of the various proposals. That is not what has taken place here today. Imagine what it looks like to the American public as they watched these last couple of days. We were placed in a situation of allowing only 20 hours of debate under a reconciliation process that never contemplated that a tax cut proposal would be a part of it. Reconciliation was used and designed to reduce deficits, not to add to them. So by choosing the limitation of 20 hours, you have then forced Members of this body to offer votes in what they call a vote-arama; that is, no time for debate, just offer the amendment and vote. So it has been tremendously distressing for Members who believe this bill needs to be modified substantially before it would enjoy the kind of truly broad bipartisan support of which the chairman of the committee speaks. That has not occurred. So we have had 20 hours of debate, that is it, on a bill of such magnitude and such significance that will crowd out our ability to invest intelligently in the needs of this country.”