Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to speak on an amendment I have offered with my colleague from Colorado, Senator Udall, but before I do so, I want to commend the senior Senators from Maryland and Alabama, Senators Mikulski and Shelby, for putting forth a bipartisan proposal to prevent a government shutdown, and to congratulate them both on their new roles as Chairwoman and Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. I look forward to working with both of them as we complete work on the fiscal year 2013 funding bills and begin the fiscal year 2014 budget process. I also want to thank my friend from Colorado, Senator Udall, for working with me to develop this bipartisan amendment, which is based on a stand- alone bill that we introduced last week. Our amendment would help mitigate the harmful effects of the indiscriminate across-the-board cuts, known as sequestration, which took effect on March 1. Our amendment would not reverse the automatic spending reductions, but would empower the heads of Federal agencies and departments to set priorities and implement the cuts in a smarter way. Without this amendment, sequestration will be applied without distinction between high and low priority programs, programs that have a proven track record of success and those that should be reduced or eliminated. To ensure appropriate Congressional oversight, the amendment requires agency heads to submit their spending proposals to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees for approval.…”