Political Quotes

“let me, first of all, begin by thanking the majority leader, Senator Reid, and the Republican leader, Senator McConnell. We would not be where we are at this moment without their leadership. So any discussion of where we are on this matter begins with them and their staffs for helping us organize the effort over the last number of hours, beginning earlier this week, as we returned from the 2-week Easter break, to try to fashion together a proposal, at least on matters with which there was common agreement. As the leader has pointed out, there are many matters here with which there is significant disagreement. They are not part of the pending substitute. Senator Shelby and I and our respective staffs, along with many others--certainly the Finance Committee, because there are portions of this that are exclusively the jurisdiction of the Finance Committee--have worked over the last 2 days to find those issues upon which there was common agreement, or at least levels of spending on which there was common agreement, to move forward on as the centerpiece, with the full understanding our colleagues will offer various other ideas either to increase amounts of money or to add additional provisions to this bill. What is important here is we are finally working on this issue.”