Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I listened to the speech just given by the Republican leader of the Senate. He expresses a sentiment Americans share; that it is time for us to work together in the Senate and the House, across the board in Washington, and solve the problems which American families face every single day. I agree with him completely. Unfortunately, the record does not reflect the level of cooperation which the American people are expecting. It was hardly a month or two into the Obama administration when the Republican leader announced that his highest priority was to make certain Barack Obama was a one-term President. It is difficult to establish a working relationship when the first words out of a Republican leader's mouth are: We are going to defeat you. Then, as we addressed the largest issues of the day, time and again, we found little or no bipartisan cooperation. I think back to the important, historic debate on health care. If there was ever a moment when we should have come together with a bipartisan solution, it was that moment. Despite the best efforts of Senator Baucus, the Democratic Finance chair and others, we were unable to even get a core group of Republicans to join us in this conversation about containing the overwhelming increase in the cost of health care. At the end of the day, after one of the most painfully long and rancorous debates in Senate history, not one single Republican Senator would vote for health care reform--not one.…”