Political Quotes

“Reserving the right to object, history is something I think you have to be involved in to understand what really transpired. First of all, there was no bill on the floor for me to take off the floor. There was discussion between Democrats and Republicans. On the Thursday before we left for the last weeklong break we took, I was in the back hall with Senators Grassley, Baucus, and McConnell. Senator McConnell, my friend, said they weren't ready to agree to anything yet. Well, it is very clear if we are going to extend benefits for a lot of tax provisions that are very important to business, then we should at least consider extending benefits for people who are down and out in the same period of time. So understand, the bill that came before the Senate included a jobs package that extends the highway benefits for 1 year, saving a million jobs, creating jobs by allowing small businesses--or any businesses--to hire somebody who has been out of work for 60 days. They do not have to pay their withholding tax and they get a $1,000 tax credit at the end of the year. In addition to that, to help small businesses, we had a provision to allow small businesses to write off and not depreciate up to $250,000 of purchases in a year--very important to create and stimulate business--and we also had in that bill a provision to stimulate the economy by extending the Build America Bonds that were so successful in our Recovery Act and those funds expired. One can have all the excuses one wants.…”