Political Quotes

“Mr. President and fellow Senators, I rise today to present S. 1, the Strengthening America's Security in the Middle East Act of 2019. It is really a compilation of three bills, addressing three different issues in the Middle East. It is left over from the last Congress, the 115th. It is fitting that the first piece of legislation on the Senate floor in the 116th Congress is made up of bills that have previously enjoyed the support of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. This is a bipartisan piece of legislation--all three of them that are put together in this bill--with many Senators from both sides of the aisle having contributed to the construction of this bill. We need to get this important work done now, not in a month or two. It is leftover business, as I said, and it is about as unanimous as anything around here gets. Now, I understand that there is friction around here at the moment, as my good friend from Virginia just talked about. But, look, we are the U.S. Senate. We can walk and we can chew gum at the same time. These issues that are in this bill desperately need our attention, and it is disheartening to see that there is going to be a vote against this simply because the parties want to focus on just one issue. That isn't the issue in front of us. If it were, of course, we could vote that way. I don't think there is anybody on this floor that wants to see the government shut down.…”