Political Quotes

“I want to give an update. We had originally thought we would be voting around 11:30. We are going to delay that until on or about 12:15--nothing fixed, nothing mandatory. People have said: Well, what are you all doing? Look at the Senate floor. Where is the action? This is a compelling issue. Actually, there is a lot of action going on in the sense that we are reviewing over 20 amendments that are still outstanding to see what could be accepted by unanimous consent, what could be accepted by a voice vote, and what requires a mandatory rollcall vote. So there is a lot of discussion going on, and Senators and their staffs are talking. It is not to be debated; it is to be discussed right now. I think it is so healthy. This is one of the first times in a couple of years where we have had an open amendment process. In some ways we are getting adjusted to how that actually works. This is terrific. So just because you do not see Senators in intense debate, there are intense conversations about how we help children, how to not create new bureaucracies, how we have the sense that all this is child focused and yet not creating lots of new mandates or whatever. So this has been really very good. I compliment Senator Harkin, who is the chair of the full HELP Committee. It is under his leadership that Senator Burr and I held some hearings. His advocacy for children is so well known. If we can move this bill today, we will have accomplished two major goals.…”