Political Quotes

“I rise today to speak both in favor of the passage of the bill, S. 3326, and to speak against the Coburn amendment. I, first, wish to thank Leaders Reid and McConnell, as well as Senators Baucus and Hatch, for working together diligently to find a path forward for passing this bill. I wish to recognize Senator Coburn and Senator Menendez for being willing to work with us to get to today. I say with some regret that I stand to speak against the Coburn amendment because I respect and recognize Senator Coburn's determination to hold this body accountable and to find pathways forward to deal with our record deficit and debt. In that broader objective, I look forward to working with him on finding responsible pay-fors in future bills and in finding ways that we can steadily partner to reduce the deficit and to find and root out waste and abuse in Federal spending. But I have to say in this particular case, on this amendment, on this day, if we change the pay-for, we kill the bill. We have heard clearly from the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Camp, and from his ranking minority member, Congressman Levin, that they will not take up this bill if amended in this form, if broken and reassembled, or if sent over in any other way. The pressure of today and the pressure of the value, the importance of this bill is what I choose to speak to.…”