Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we are on the supplemental appropriations bill. I understand. I have been chairing a hearing, and I understand I have not missed very much. It appears to me yesterday and today this supplemental appropriations bill on the floor of the Senate has been moving very slowly. In fact, while amendments have been filed and some discussed, we have had no votes. I know the majority leader would very much like to move forward to get this done. In fact, it is the case that if the supplemental bill is not done, my understanding is there will be soldiers who will not receive paychecks in June. So there is an urgency for us to replenish the funding that is necessary in the defense portion of this bill especially. There are other pieces of it that are equally important. For example, the money for the Federal Emergency Management Agency is provided as a result of disasters that are occurring that require some supplemental funding, and other issues are addressed as well. But what I want to mention on the floor of the Senate is a request that has been made about DOE loan guarantees. I got a call from the Secretary of Energy, Secretary Chu, requesting $90 million in this legislation or support in some legislative form to allow them to provide loan guarantees for three nuclear plants that are to be built. They want to begin a process to move down the road on some nuclear energy. I will support these loan guarantees.…”