Political Quotes

“I wish to thank the majority leader for his comments, and I will be very brief because I know the Senator from Iowa has a statement he wants to make. Let me just say that the statement made on the floor earlier this afternoon by the Republican leader never once addressed the issue pending before the Senate. Pending before the Senate is an emergency unemployment insurance bill that will provide benefits to 1.3 million Americans who are out of work and for 8 days now have been receiving no assistance whatsoever. Imagine the struggles they are facing. That is why we called this bill first when we returned from our holiday recess. We consider it a priority. We were heartened yesterday when six Republicans joined us to move this bill forward. It gave us hope that we were going to do something to get this done in a timely way to help a lot of deserving people all across the United States. We hoped today, when the Republican leader from Kentucky came to the floor, that he would address the urgency and necessity of this bill. He did not. As Senator Reid has said, he wanted to talk about the Senate rules. The Senate rules are important, make no mistake. But they are certainly not as important as providing essential benefits, essential relief and help to 1.3 million unemployed Americans--people who are trying to pay their utility bills, avoid eviction, put gas in the car, and go out and find a job.…”