Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I wish to thank the Senator from Oregon regarding this critical issue we have been working on for a considerable period of time and that thought we had really cleared on both sides. This language is mightily important to improving the rural economies of this country, particularly because it would expedite the HUBZone designation to allow businesses in those HUBzones to provide jobs by virtue of the fact that they would get preferential treatment in the contracting process. As we know, the Federal Government buys more than $400 billion worth of contracts each year. We want to make sure small businesses and particularly those located in hard-hit areas of our country have access to those contracting dollars and are able to participate on an equal footing. This would create jobs. So I regret the fact that we are not able to get support to move this legislation forward because I know the Senator from Oregon has tested it on both sides. We have run it through the hotline. There are no objections to the language. I cannot understand why we cannot move this very important legislation that absolutely would be central to creating jobs in the areas that need them the most throughout the country, especially when we have such a high unemployment rate. This is not a difficult issue to understand. It is very straightforward.…”