Political Quotes

“Mr. President, first, let me say that I appreciate the sincerity of the Senator from Virginia--my friend Senator Kaine--and his comments about the filibuster. I am not going to repeat the speech that I gave last week on the vital safeguards that the filibuster provides to the minority party in the U.S. Senate and why it makes us the greatest deliberative body in the world. Instead, since I have already talked on that issue, I feel compelled to respond to comments that were made by Senator Ossoff, the Senator from Georgia, earlier this evening, in which he singled out four Republican Senators--Senator McConnell, Senator Cornyn, Senator Burr, and myself--and our position on the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a seminal law that was so important in the civil rights movement in guaranteeing the right to vote for all Americans. Well, I was not in the Senate in 1965. I was 13. I am not sure that the Senator from Georgia was even born in 1965, but that is not really my point. My point is that, of me, the Senator from Georgia, Mr. Ossoff, said: Senator Collins previously said that this bill will ensure that voting rights afforded to all Americans are protected but not anymore. I voted, enthusiastically, and did say that about the Voting Rights Act reauthorization in 2006. Surely, my colleague is not confusing that bill, which was 5 pages long--5 pages--with the bill that is before the Senate tonight, which is 735-pages long. Surely, he is not confusing those two bills.…”