Political Quotes

“I rise this morning in high hopes but with deep concern. The high hopes are that a budget conference at long last is taking place, that representatives of the Senate and the House are meeting together--met last week and I know have been meeting informally this week--in order to try to achieve, finally, a budget for this fiscal year. My concern is that it has been so hard to get here, it has been so difficult, and that we are now in a process where we do not seem to be able to function. I am worried about the country. I am worried about whether we are going to be able to address our problems. This is not a speech about subject matter. It is not about global climate change or employment or the minimum wage or health care, but it is about whether this institution can function in order to confront any of those problems. When I was a young man, there was a famous book. It was kind of a cult favorite called ``Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me.'' Sometimes I feel as though that is where we are here. This institution has been so compromised in its ability to function that it has become the norm and people have low expectations, even people who are here. I remember being on the floor a few months ago when one of the Senators stood up and said: This amendment should be subject to the normal 60-vote requirement, and my head snapped back because there is no such thing as a normal 60-vote requirement.…”