Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I knew ahead of time that we would have this objection. The only difference between this objection this time and a year ago is the fact that a year ago we worked out differences with other committees of the Congress and had, evidently, 99 Senators ready to pass this bill, except for Senator Reid. So it is disappointing that when we work out one problem we had a year ago, that now we have serious objections, very numerous, as it worked out, considering the fact that the committee of jurisdiction--Senator Johnson is chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, passing this bill out unanimously, getting it cleared on both sides a year ago, except for Senator Reid, and now all these other problems come up. It is impossible for me to respond to all the problems that have been presented by the Senator from Arizona. Obviously, the legislative process does emphasize cooperation between Members when there are differences, but I believe that it is probably going to be impossible this year for us to work out those differences. So I will be prepared to come back next year and pursue this legislation again and see what we can do. Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, could I just say to my friend from Iowa that I am willing to maybe have a sit-down sometime in the next 24 hours to see if we can get this done.”