Political Quotes

“I come to the Senate floor weary--weary after 2 weeks of working on this historic legislation, both in the Senate Judiciary Committee and in the back rooms of the Senate Chamber and on the Senate floor; weary after a long, sleepless night thinking about how we might have done this better; weary with the knowledge that we come here this morning, having missed a historic opportunity. This opportunity is slipping through our hands like grains of sand. It is hard to imagine that we have reached this point when one looks at the people of goodwill who have tried to bring this bill to passage and completion. I first salute the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It took extraordinary courage for him to vote in favor of the bipartisan bill which came to the floor. He stuck with it. I thought he was fair in the way he handled his committee, and I thought we produced a good work product which I was proud to support. I salute the Senator from Massachusetts who, for decades, has made this cause, immigration reform, his passion. He has never given up. In the weeks we have spent up to this moment, his strength has been remarkable. On the Republican side, Senator McCain, Senator Graham, Senator Brownback, Senator DeWine, Senator Martinez, Senator Hagel, and so many others were bound and determined to defy the critics who said we couldn't come to a bipartisan agreement. Yesterday, for one brief moment, one shining moment, we believed we had a bipartisan agreement.…”