Political Quotes

“2 weeks ago, I came to the Senate floor to express my concern that Congress had yet to act on the President's fiscal year 2008 request for supplemental funding to support our troops and our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. At that time, I also expressed my displeasure with the majority's intention to bypass the Appropriations Committee in writing the supplemental appropriations bill. Two weeks later, little appears to have changed. Little has changed, except that we are 2 weeks deeper into the fiscal year, and we are 2 weeks closer to the date when accounts that support our Armed Forces and our diplomatic corps begin to run dry. The majority leader is apparently sanguine about the status of the supplemental because last Thursday, he said: I think we'll do our best to finish this before the Memorial Day break, but if we don't, it's no big deal. There's money there. The leader then went on to say: I don't know why there is a rush to judgment. This is moving along quite rapidly. We're not behind schedule. Everything's fine. Exactly what is 'moving along quite rapidly'? No markup of the supplemental has been officially scheduled in either the House or the Senate. There are continued reports of imminent action in the other body, but no bill has been introduced. No bill or report has been circulated to Senate committee members in anticipation of a markup. There is nothing for Members to look at, nothing for Members to consider or to draft amendments to.”