Political Quotes

“Let me start by joining my colleague, the Democratic leader, in his words about Lamar Alexander--a great Senator and a personal friend, someone I am sorry is going to bring his Senate career to an end in 2 years because he has done so many good things. I could spell out many of those things, but one comes to mind immediately. A few years ago when I was deciding whether to run for reelection myself, I thought one of my goals would be to increase the Federal investment in medical research. That is right in the wheelhouse of the committee jurisdiction of Lamar Alexander. I went to him and his counterpart on the Democratic side, Senator Patty Murray of Washington, and Roy Blunt of Missouri, and we put together an informal team pushing for increases in medical research. We have had amazing success. It has been bipartisan, and it has been an enthusiastic effort all around. We couldn't have done it without Lamar's wholehearted participation. He was committed to medical research, and as a result, we have had more than a 5-percent increase each year for the last 4 years in the budget and appropriations for the National Institutes of Health. That is going to end up creating more opportunities to spare people suffering and to cure disease and to save lives than we can possibly imagine. That is the kind of thing people expect of us, don't they, in the Senate? The Democrats and Republicans will find a common goal and work together to achieve it.…”