Political Quotes

“Mr. President, before the Senator from Tennessee leaves the floor, I, too, wish to commend him for his excellent stewardship of this highly complex appropriations bill and for the cooperative way in which he worked with the ranking member, Senator Feinstein, and indeed all of the Members, not only those on the Appropriations Committee but the entire Senate. Senator Alexander deserves a great deal of credit. I also commend our leader for making it a priority for us to get the appropriations work done. Never before in recent years have we started the process so early. The Appropriations Committee has completed its hearings, we have marked up several bills, and we are proceeding with floor consideration. This will avoid a situation that I believe all of us really abhor, and that is being faced with voting for repeated continuing resolutions at the end of the fiscal year which lock in last year's priorities and do not reflect this year's priorities, or the bills are bundled together into an omnibus bill that is many thousands of pages long and does not receive the kind of in-depth debate and amendments it deserves. I commend the leader of the Senate for making this a priority and for ensuring that we are all doing our job. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.”