Political Quotes

“while I am pleased that this body has passed legislation to extend unemployment benefits for thirteen weeks, I rise to express my deep regret at an opportunity lost to help American workers. . .to help create jobs. . .to bolster our economy. . .to provide vital health insurance benefits. . .and to increase our federal surplus projections for the long term. I voted for cloture on both the Daschle and the Grassley-Snowe amendments because the bottom line is, I am convinced an economic stimulus plan would make a vital difference when it comes to the strength of our economic recovery. And I cosponsored Senator Grassley's amendment not only because it is the product of the work of the Centrist Coalition, which I co-chair with Senator Breaux, but also because it was crafted through bipartisan, bicameral negotiations with the White House and already passed the House of Representatives in December on a bipartisan vote. I want to thank all of us who worked so diligently on that package, most especially Senators John Breaux, George Voinovich, Ben Nelson, Susan Collins and Zell Miller. And of course I want to thank Senator Grassley for his remarkable commitment to building consensus and getting a strong stimulus package passed.”