Political Quotes

“Madam President, I object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard. The Senator from Arizona. Mr. McCAIN. Madam President, I rise again in regret. The normal regular order of this body after both sides of the Capitol have agreed on a budget is to meet and that we have a proper process to instruct conferees to have a budget. A motion to appoint conferees to be bound by a requirement, no matter how worthy it is, is not the way the regular order functions in this body, and that is a fact. For 4 years I sat here and beat up on the majority leader for his failure to bring a budget to the floor of this Senate. We brought a budget to the floor. We spent many hours on all kinds of amendments, and now we can't go to conference unless we agree not to raise the debt limit. Does my colleague from Florida believe the House of Representatives, dominated by Republicans, is going to raise the debt limit? Does my colleague from Florida believe any conferees who are appointed, where we have to place certain restrictions on those conferees, that would apply to the other body as well? I don't think so. I don't think that is the way this body is supposed to function. We are in a gridlock. Here we are, 4 years without a budget. We finally get a budget, we stay up all night, and because somebody doesn't want to raise the debt limit we are not going to go to conference. That is not how this body should function. The American people deserve better. They deserve a budget.…”