Political Quotes

“tonight, once again, Congress is proving to the American people that Washington is broken. This bill is not a product of deliberation of the world's most deliberative body. It is a not a product of meaningful public hearings. It is not a product of compromise or months of hard work among multiple committees. It is certainly not the product of a grand legislative idea that was desperately needed to meet the demands of the public. The bill in front of us is the product of dysfunction, partisanship, and political desperation. Thirty years ago, the Senate passed President Reagan's tax reform 97 to 3. After the conference committee had worked it over, it passed overwhelmingly with 74 votes. That could have been the case today, but there was never an attempt to have an honest debate about this bill, and there was no attempt to get bipartisan buy-in. I reached out to lend my perspective and Montana's perspective--the perspective of rural America--but my offer fell on deaf ears, and I never heard back. I asked the President to work with me. I raised my concerns early, and they have never made an attempt to address those concerns. There was no effort to reach across the aisle and build consensus for this bill. Once again, the leadership of this body chose to draw a line in the sand. They chose to empower the fringes and leave those in the middle out in the cold.…”