Political Quotes

“I have been part of a group of Members from both sides of the aisle and from both Chambers who have been meeting actually over the past few months to try to find common ground on SCHIP legislation. I am afraid that some of the facts that the gentleman from Wisconsin stated, he made some statements that I would hope he would join our group and we could go over those facts, such as the $83,000. For my colleagues who have taken part, they know very well that these discussions that we have been having were productive at times and less productive at other times. But despite our disagreements and the bumps in the road, I think we persisted and continued to meet because we believe this is one of the most important issues that Congress will address. The genesis of these meetings originated from a letter that 38 House Republicans sent to the President on October 18, and in that letter we laid out principles that we believed would be necessary to secure our votes on the legislation and make this truly a bipartisan reauthorization of SCHIP.”