Political Quotes

“I listened carefully to the comments by my colleague from Texas, Senator Cornyn, when he talked about impeachment purgatory and the fact that the Senate is unable to act on critical legislation--many bills that have already passed the House of Representatives--because of the impeachment proceedings. Well, the impeachment proceedings have not started in the U.S. Senate. So what is the excuse? Was it the impeachment proceeding that stopped us from considering one bill in the Senate this week? Was it the impeachment proceeding that stopped us from considering one bill in the Senate last week? No, it was the conscious decision of the Senate majority leader, Senator McConnell, the Republican leader, with the Republican majority, not to call a single piece of legislation in the last 2 weeks. There shouldn't be any surprise among the membership that we did nothing in the last 2 weeks other than a few garden-variety nominations. The fact is, we have done nothing for a long time under Senator McConnell's leadership. Do you know, for the record, how many amendments were actually debated on the floor of the U.S. Senate last year in the entire calendar year? Twenty-two. Twenty-two amendments, six offered by the junior Senator from Kentucky. If I am not mistaken, all of them were defeated, but the point I am trying to make is, 22 amendments in 1 year and now the Republican majority is blaming Speaker Pelosi and the impeachment proceedings for the fact that we do nothing.…”