Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to speak of the world's most deliberative body. Maybe we were. Maybe we have been. Maybe we can be again. But right now we are not. This Chamber has spent exactly 0.0 minutes in the first 9\1/2\ months we have been here on appropriations bills--not a second. And, obviously, it leads to omnibuses; it leads to minibuses. This is a bus headed off a fiscal cliff, and we are at where we are at. But the Founders envisioned a place where two Senators from each State would come here, and you would have elongated, deliberative debate. What we see happening right now is more like scripted Kabuki theater. You don't get to offer an amendment, unless we know exactly what the final outcome is going to be. For me, why not have open debate? Have people offer amendments. Debate these bills individually on their own merit. I think the American people think that is actually what happens here. It is not. And when I go back home to Missouri and talk to people about the process here, it is like from a foreign land. It doesn't make any sense. It is not how State legislatures do it. But this vaulted arena of our Republic has been diminished by the fact that we can't have debate on individual appropriations bills. We didn't have it, by the way, at the last deadline. We extended the deadline to November 17, which is exactly 30 days from now. And for anybody keeping score at home, that is 9 working days, according to the majority leader's calendar--9 working days.…”