Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the time. This really is a simple bill. It's merely a bridge to get us until November the 18th to continue the government basically as is until that time, to get us time to work with the Senate to put together the funding for all of fiscal 2012. Norm Dicks and I started out this year agreeing that we wanted to restore regular order to the Appropriations Committee and the process. And we've worked in that regard. The committee has dealt with 11 of the 12 appropriations bills. Six of them you've had a chance on the floor to amend and pass, which you have. Unfortunately, our brethren across the Capitol have been a little bit slow, and they passed one bill, which necessitated that we do something to continue the government while we try to work with them to bring them along on their bills and fund fiscal 2012. This bill started out as a bipartisan bill. We worked to make it so. But along the way, on the eve of the bill, all of a sudden we were confronted with a partisan attack from this side of the aisle, and we had no choice but to respond. But still yet this is a bipartisanly constructed bill. It doesn't attack anyone. The Homeland Security bill that passed the body, you will recall, carried the provision that required that the billion dollars in that bill for FEMA would be offset from the automobile account that's been discussed. That passed this body in a bipartisan vote. Many Democrats voted for it, joined Republicans.…”