Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, it is a two-House legislature. One is led by Republicans; one is led by Democrats. The reason we don't have 302(b) is because the Senate couldn't agree with itself on 302(b)s. I talked to Mitch McConnell in January of this year. Mitch McConnell comes out of the Appropriations Committee; I come out of the Appropriations Committee. Both of us said that we need to get 302(a)s, which is the big number. You then subdivide it into 12 different committees. He agreed that we ought to do that, but he said that we have to have the President agree. Very frankly, the Acting Chief of Staff, who served in this body, did not want to do that. The leadership of the Republicans had as much trouble with him as we had with him. Just ask Mr. Boehner and Mr. Ryan. He didn't want to have a deal. He wanted a CR. Actually, he wanted less than a CR because he wanted to go back to the sequester numbers. That is why we don't have a 302(b), because neither the White House, Madam Speaker, nor the Acting Chief of Staff would agree. Mr. McConnell said: I am not going to do anything the President of the United States won't do. Unlike being the independent, Article I body that we ought to be, acting independently and then sending it down to the President, and he makes a decision as to whether he wants to sign it or not, we are simply saying, in the United States Senate: If he won't agree with it, we won't put it on the floor. He doesn't have to veto it.…”