María Elvira Salazar: “I wish to first comment on the Finance Committee and the way that committee works. First, we are on the floor of the…”

“I wish to first comment on the Finance Committee and the way that committee works. First, we are on the floor of the Senate with a Finance Committee package in large part because we have two great Senators who have been a part of this Chamber, a part of this institution for a very long time and who make it their priority to get results. They transcend partisan politics for the public purpose for which they were elected. It is in that vein that time and time again the packages we have brought forth from the Finance Committee have had both Democratic and Republican support as we have tried to move forward to confront the challenges that face our country today. This economic stimulus package that is before us today is no exception. It was voted out of the Finance Committee, a committee I am very proud to be a part of, with a bipartisan vote, in a bipartisan spirit, and with the sense that we needed to give a flu shot to this economy before it gets sicker; and with the sense that we need to help this economy go into a positive direction as opposed to getting further and further stuck in the ditch of disrepair, where it has been headed for the last several months.”