Political Quotes

“I would like to speak for about 10 minutes. I understand there may be other Senators coming to the floor. I wanted to express my concerns about a few issues that are really important to the people of Louisiana. I understand that the meeting with the President and the Republicans in the Senate--our friends--has just concluded. I am hoping there will be some positive steps forward from that meeting so we can open this government, remove the threat of an economic collapse, and get to the bargaining table to which we have literally been trying to achieve for 6 months. We voted 21 times in the Senate to get to the negotiating table in the budget conference, which is the first starting point to agree on numbers and revenues and spending limits. As an appropriator--I would know this as chair of the Appropriations Committee--the next step in regular order is for each individual committee to negotiate with our Republican counterparts about how we allocate the money given to us through that budget process. None of that has been able to happen--none. It is not because Democrats have been unwilling to go to the negotiating table, but because some friends on the other side have taken hostage innocents-- Federal employees, the economy generally--and demanded things that are way beyond their ability to use their political leverage. So instead of using it correctly, they have held innocent hostages. It is very troubling, and I think it is very wrong.…”