Political Quotes

“I will be happy to tell the gentleman. I think the gentleman knows, one of the dilemmas we have been facing with negotiations is that the Senate has a 60-vote requirement. The Senate had that 60-vote requirement back when you all were in the majority last time. When we were in the majority, they had that 60-vote requirement as well. When we were negotiating all of those bills, all the bills that fund our government, we were able to get an agreement on 75 percent of government funding. We had that negotiation with the Senate. We can't just negotiate with ourselves. As you see, you can pass bills in the House and they go nowhere in the Senate. We brought a bill in December--and, by the way, the gentleman from Maryland said we didn't have the votes, that is why we didn't do it. The Speaker of the House went into the Oval Office and told the President: Your side can't deliver the votes for the $5.7 billion. She said that. Well, guess what, Mr. Speaker. We did deliver the votes for the $5.7 billion, and we were able to do that all along, but the Senate wasn't there. And why wasn't the Senate there? The Senate Republicans were willing to support that, but Senate Democrats weren't. It is the same dilemma we are in today. The Senate Democrats and House Democrats have refused to negotiate with the President. I think the gentleman from Maryland knows the legislative process.…”