Political Quotes

“first of all, this Congress has come through an extraordinary year, a year where a lot of us never thought that the challenges and problems and probably the grief that many Americans have faced we would have to deal with, but we did. I want to commend my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for facing up from time to time, standing tall and getting things done that were important to the American people. We have stood together. We have faced problems. We have done those things that secured this Nation. But there is one more problem. We also see an economic downturn. We can discuss why that happened. Whether it was the result of September 11 or it was in the mix a year ago, we do not know; but we know it is here. And we know when this country faces problems, this is the body that the American people look to to find solutions. And somehow from time to time we, as Americans, we, as elected people here, pull together our collective strength and find solutions to those problems. We are human, and solutions many times are not perfect. I remember a conversation I had with the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt). He was concerned when we did the airline bill and we did a couple other things so that American workers were taken care of, because at that time there were people out of work. But today there is a lot more people out of work. And those people out of work are on unemployment compensation. We want to extend that unemployment compensation. This bill does it.”