Political Quotes

“Reclaiming my time, this is getting perilously close to a debate, which I will tell those in attendance never happens on the floor of the Senate. I will tell the Senator at this time we are dealing with the CR and last year's appropriations for the Department of Transportation; that is what Secretary LaHood is using. He is using the Budget Control Act numbers. So the President's request, notwithstanding--I am not sure how the Senator voted, but there was a bipartisan vote for limiting the amount of money that could be spent in this fiscal year. I voted for it, and that is what the Secretary is operating under. The reality is this: Even with the Inhofe amendment, $1 billion has to be cut from the Department of Transportation, and the flexibility notwithstanding, the options are so limited at this point in time. I will tell the Senator pointblank that I believe we need to reduce this deficit. Sequestration is a terrible way, but there is an alternative. There will be an alternative this afternoon, and we will ask the Senator from Pennsylvania and to the Senator from Oklahoma: Are they prepared to say we are going to limit the direct agriculture support payments to farmers who have had the most profitable years in their lives and don't need them? Are they prepared to say that people making $5 million a year in income ought to pay the same tax rate as the secretaries who work for them? If they are, we can avoid the worst parts of the sequestration.…”