Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise to speak on the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016, otherwise known as the omnibus bill. I wish to report to my colleagues in the Senate that the House has passed the bill this morning with a robust vote of 316 to 113. Three months ago it was unclear if we would be at this positive point. We were uncertain if we could get a budget deal that would lift the caps for defense and nondefense spending, it was unclear if we could cancel sequester, and it was unclear if we could avoid a government shutdown. I am happy to say today that we have completed our work, and we have done it in the traditional style of this institution and also of the Appropriations Committee and by working on a bipartisan basis. The chairman of the committee, the Senator from Mississippi, Mr. Cochran, and I worked across the aisle to get the job done. I thank him for the leadership he provided the committee, for his professionalism, and for the ability and the fact that we could work, both he and I, together. I thank both of our staffs for working with civility and candor. For the third year in a row, we left no appropriations bill behind. We negotiated and we compromised. We compromised without capitulation of our principles, which has always been a strong tradition of the Appropriations Committee. As we bring this bill to the floor, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for this bill. I want to do it on the basis of content and on the basis of merit.…”