Political Quotes

“most of you know that I have a real job besides being a U.S. Senator, and that real job includes farming the land, which includes spending--starting in the spring--12 to 16 hours a day on a tractor, where you get an opportunity, after you are going around and around and around, to think about anything you want to think about. Before I got in this job, I used to do math problems. Since I have gotten in this job, I think about this job when I am on a tractor, and I think about the U.S. Senate. I think about how over the last 15 years this place has been incredibly dysfunctional. I have been here 15 years; I can't speak to what it was like before that. But it has never worked since I have been here. The reason it has never worked is because--I had this idea in my head that, being the U.S. Senate, it would be a place where we could have debate. In the greatest deliberative body, you ought to be able to have debate. I think I saw Senator Durbin once almost get into a debate here, maybe twice. But it just simply doesn't happen, and it doesn't happen because we are not forced to do it because you take the easy way out. All you have to do is put a hold on a bill, and then you can walk out. In fact--I think it was my second year here--there was a Senator who put a hold on a bill and then went back to his home State. He didn't even stick around. I don't think that is what the forefathers had in mind.…”