Political Quotes

“let me say that at this moment we are on Thursday of this workweek with the possibility and likelihood of a cloture vote tomorrow morning in the Senate. If one looks at the business of the Senate this week, it is a good thing we are not being paid for piecework because we have done so little. We had an initial motion to go to this climate security bill, which is an important piece of legislation. That was considered early in the week, and then a second measure, which was very brief, on adopting a budget--an important document but one that had already been debated at length many times in this Chamber. We burned 30 hours off the clock in what was requested for a general debate. That, of course, took place, and it was a good debate: a bipartisan effort to explain an important bill involving global warming and carbon pollution which is changing the world we live in. Then a request was made yesterday by the Republican leader that this bill, the Climate Security Act, be read in its entirety into the Record. So for 8 hours, our staff had to stand and read every word of this bill into the Record. This bill--the substitute--had been available for days and the concepts behind it for weeks. There was no element of surprise, no necessity for this reading, other than to burn off an entire day in the Senate where little or nothing was accomplished. Now we face virtually the same thing again.…”