Political Quotes

“We had to burn off 4 or 5 days of doing nothing because of another Republican filibuster. So far in this Congress the Republicans have initiated now 67 filibusters. The record in the Congress before this Republican minority was 57 filibusters over a 2-year period of time. They have now broken that record by 10, and we still have 8 months to go this year. We are wasting more time. When I ask the Republicans why did you filibuster a bill for veterans' benefits, they said because when we have lunch today, we want to talk it over. This bill was reported by the veterans committee 9 months ago. How many veterans have been created in 9 months? How many more have needed job training, health care benefits, and housing, and now our Republican minority wants to talk it over? If we are going to do the people's business in this Chamber, this filibuster mentality on the Republican side has to come to an end. There are critically important issues. Wouldn't it be great if we had finished the veterans health bill last Thursday and could have started debating today the cost of gasoline across America; the impact of high diesel fuel prices on truckers; what the jet fuel costs are doing to the airline industry? But no, another Republican filibuster, the 67th filibuster in this session. I hope the people of the United States understand what the problem is. To break a filibuster, it takes 60 votes. There are only 51 Democrats. The voters of America will have their chance to vote in November.”