Political Quotes

“Let me say my good friend from Mississippi, the Republican leader, raised the issue about where we were. He is right. There was a time not so long ago--about 8 or 9 months ago--when we sat down and innocently thought that three or four Members sitting together could write something and then come to the floor, and people would say, You have done a lot of work, go ahead. As oftentimes happens, it is not unique. We thought we had put something together. We came to the floor and discovered that there were 97 other Members who had some ideas--not all 97 but a good many had other thoughts about which they felt strongly. I don't regret the effort that my colleague from Texas and I made with Senator Sarbanes of Maryland. Senator Schumer was involved I think to some degree in all of that, and others as well. We made a good faith effort. We thought it would work. It didn't.”