Political Quotes

“I respect my colleagues from Oregon and Montana, but I respectfully disagree with the way they have described the situation. We are talking about asking Internet retailers around America, when they make a sale, to collect the sales tax on that sale. That is it. My colleague, Senator Heitkamp from North Dakota, was tax commissioner in her State and took a case to the Supreme Court 20 years ago about the collection of sales tax for remote sales--catalog sales, mail order operations. She took the case to the Supreme Court, across the street, and 20 years ago they said: Congress, you have to fix this problem. She had hoped she found the solution, but they said, no, you can't fix it State by State. Congress has to fix this problem. Here we are 20 years later. Senator Enzi of Wyoming has been working on this issue for 12 years. I have joined him for the last 3 or 4, partnering with him in this effort. This is not a new issue. It is not new to me, not new to Senator Heitkamp or anyone on the floor. As far as this version of the bill, this version of the bill was introduced, if I am not mistaken, in February--is that correct? This version of the bill, 11 pages--by Federal standards, this is not a big, complex piece of legislation. We asked for hearings before the Finance Committee and we did not get our wish. We brought it directly to the floor. I wish it would have been heard before the Finance Committee.…”