Political Quotes

“I wish to call to the Senator's attention two amendments that have been adopted, both of them initiated by Republican Senators and both of them now in the bill, the first by Senator Grassley and Senator Menendez in committee that added about $70 billion in cost to the bill--the alternative minimum tax relief. It is something we both support, but it clearly was an effort to engage Republican Senators in changing the bill in a positive way. The second amendment adopted yesterday was by Senator Isakson of Georgia relative to a tax credit for home purchases, and I believe the cost of that is $19 billion. Those two amendments account for $89 billion out of the $900 billion in the bill. So about 10 percent of the bill comes from Republican amendments. To suggest that we are not open to amendments from the Republican side, I would say to my colleague, I think we are trying. We could do more and we want to do more, but we don't want to lose what we hope President Obama is asking for here--something that will have a substantial and dramatic impact on the economy.”