Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank Senator Rockefeller and all of the Members who have come to the floor today debating this important bill and to share their thoughts about other amendments that are--some directly but some indirectly--related to our discussion. It doesn't look as if we are going to vote tonight, but we are going to continue to work throughout the evening as Members want to come to the floor and speak on their amendments, so we can try to work something out for tomorrow. I thank Senator Snowe and her staff for their good work today. I see Senator Whitehouse on the floor. He may wish to speak about an amendment. But I remind everyone that we are on the SBIR and STTR Reauthorization Act. It is a very important piece of legislation that has been sputtering for a reauthorization now for over 6 years, and there are literally thousands of entities--small businesses, dozens of Federal agencies, many, many organizations from the Chamber of Commerce to the American Small Business Association--that are depending on us to do our work and actually get this program reauthorized. It is important to give consistency and permanency. So we are going to continue to work to do that. I look forward to speaking in more detail about the bill later tonight and tomorrow. But it looks as though we are not going to have votes tonight; but, hopefully, we can get some order and some agreement to proceed. At this time I see Senator Whitehouse on the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Hagan).…”