Political Quotes

“And we're doing it without our friends on the other side of the aisle, which is really just so incredibly disappointing. I mean, I have seen our leadership reach across the aisle time and again and ask our Republican colleagues to come to the table, sit down. We're not going to agree on everything, but let's sit down and try to hammer out areas of agreement where we can find some common ground. Let's try to pass bipartisan legislation. As you said, we passed health care reform with over 150 amendments that were offered by Republicans, accepted and included into the bill. We had a bipartisan bill without a bipartisan outcome, and that's been their choice repeatedly. They have made a choice, whether to either sit with us and try to work something out--and you know there's times where you have to--look, politics can be a contact sport. This is a situation where they have different ideas than we do, but I've been in office for 18 years. I spent 12 years in my legislative body. You were in your legislature as well. I have never been in a situation--and I come from a State that is controlled by Republicans for the majority of the time that I have served in office. But I was always able to reach across the aisle and find some common ground. And we were always able to, on many things, pass bipartisan legislation. They have no interest in that.”