Political Quotes

“Mr. President, my staff, working with the staff of the Finance and HELP Committees, has spent an enormous amount of time ensuring that this bill complies with the rules of the reconciliation process. The majority and minority staffers have spent long hours going over this bill in excruciating detail with the Parliamentarian. We just heard the Parliamentarian's determinations on some of those issues. The Parliamentarian has further advised us that two provisions do violate the Byrd rule. The first provision concerns the formula setting the maximum Pell grant amount annually and is considered out of order. Basically, it provides an insurance policy on how that level is calculated. The second provision says this, in its entirety: ``(D) by striking subparagraph (E); and(E) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as subparagraph (E),'' and is also considered out of order. CBO has concluded that the two provisions do not score for budgetary purposes. The Parliamentarian gave great weight to this in making his determination. While I wish these provisions were not being stricken, removing them would not affect the score of the program or prevent the bill from achieving the goals of the new Pell grant policy. Mr. President, we think it is important for the historical record to have these matters laid out on the record.…”