Political Quotes

“First, let me serve notice on the Republican side that I will be making a unanimous consent request about the extension of unemployment benefits so that Senator Bunning or someone else on his behalf will be on the floor if they care to object. Let me say, before my friend from Iowa leaves the floor, one of the reasons we can't get to the issues you want is because we are in the midst of a filibuster by the Senator from Kentucky who has stopped us from extending unemployment benefits, COBRA benefits for 30 days. As I understand it, that filibuster now applies to a noncontroversial judicial nominee. So we have multiple filibusters holding us back from considering some of the measures you mentioned. I might say, some of them I find appealing and hope we can make them part of the package. The reason why your initial agreement with Senator Baucus met some resistance on our side of the aisle is that we thought there was a lack of balance. Although I support the tax extenders being extended for the remainder of the year in your initial agreement with Senator Baucus, the extension of unemployment benefits and COBRA was only for a few months. We felt that both should be extended until the end of the year. I hope we can reach that agreement when we come back to the amendment that is pending before us, as soon as the filibusters that have been initiated by the Senator from Kentucky are completed. Let me say a word about those filibusters.…”