Political Quotes

“Essentially, if I might clarify for our Members and their constituents, obviously the vote today was symbolic and everybody knew it was symbolic. Symbolic to the extent that the Senate voted last week, as the gentleman pointed out, to defeat a resolution of disapproval. Under the statute that was passed by this House and Senate and signed by President Bush, the process is that those funds are now available for expenditure because the House and Senate did not pass resolutions of disapproval. Very frankly, President Bush had indicated, if we had done this earlier, he would have probably vetoed such a resolution. I want to say to my friend that, in a bipartisan way, President Bush sent this request to the Congress. He indicated he sent it to the Congress at the request of President Obama. They both agreed that this request was necessary. So our two leaders, elected in 2000, 2004, and 2008, have said that given the crisis that confronts us, they believe that this money is absolutely essential if they are to have the ability to stabilize the economy. Secretary Paulson believed that was necessary, who was the Secretary of the Treasury under President Bush. Secretary Geithner, who was just confirmed by the Senate, has said he believes that is necessary. So I say to my friend that the legislation passed, signed by President Bush, provided for a process which said that if either House voted against a motion for disapproval, the money would go forward.”