Political Quotes

“Madam President, I appreciate the cooperation of both leaders to help us get to the floor this morning for a debate on this very important piece of legislation and one that we have actually and, unfortunately, struggled with for the last two Congresses. The Acting President pro tempore knows, as a member of the Small Business Committee and as a Senator from New Hampshire, how important this piece of legislation is as we continue to fight--and that is what the word is, ``fight''--to create jobs right here at home in America, not just on Wall Street, not just in the fancy places, but on Main Street in our hometowns all over America. Senator Snowe and I are on the Senate floor today together, happily, to talk about a bill into which she has put a tremendous amount of time and effort before as the chair of the committee. I serve as the chair of the committee, and she is my very able ranking member. Together our staffs have worked very closely for a long period of time to try to fashion the compromise that is before the Senate today. I thank the 84, I believe, Members of the Senate who voted for cloture last night. I know the rules of the Senate are strange, still, to many Americans. But we cannot operate without unanimous consent. So it takes an extra special level of cooperation. While we did not get everyone last night to go on the record, we did get the prerequisite number--above 60--to move to this debate.…”