Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we are about to consider a big appropriations bill all wrapped up into one called an Omnibus appropriations bill. I think it will be a good bill. But here we go again, trying to attach all kinds of goodies to it. Now, with just a few days left of funding before the U.S. Government spending authority and appropriations expire--to the best of my recollection that is about 9\1/2\ days away--we have to get something done. But what is happening is that the special interests are coming out of the woodwork, and they are hard at work to sneak sweetheart deals into what is a must-pass piece of legislation--the funding to keep the Government of the United States functioning. So these special interests that are suddenly popping up and sneaking around the corner don't have to get the votes to get it passed through their regular order for whatever their particular interest is. They want it so their interests are riders on the appropriations bill, and everybody has to vote for it with their special interests because if we don't, the government shuts down, which is obviously an unacceptable alternative. These handouts to special interests are known as appropriations riders. Most ordinary Americans don't know that this stuff is going on. Well, based on the appropriations bill that we saw earlier this year, we know that many of these riders could work their way in. For example, some people, particularly in the banking community, don't like some of the restrictions.…”