Political Quotes

“thanks to bipartisan cooperation, the conference committee reached an agreement to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance. This compromise effort also protects Medicare patients' right to choose the doctors who take care of them. I commend the members of the conference committee for their diligence and dedication--for holding a lot more conference sessions. That is the way this place should be. They are hard and difficult, and they are representative of this body. It is hard to arrive at a result, but they did. The Senate will vote on that conference report as soon as we can today. Of course, we will need Republican support to pass it. But the statements made by my friend, the Republican leader, make it pretty clear we will get Republican support because, among other things, Senator McConnell said Republicans strongly support extending this tax cut for the rest of the year, and that is good. Americans are waiting and watching what happens here today. With our economy gaining steam--though still fragile--it is crucial we prevent a tax increase on 160 million Americans, and these are working Americans. It is also important to protect the safety net for millions of Americans who can't find work. We have 3\1/2\ million people who are in some stage of unemployment in this great country, and we must protect seniors' access to quality medical care by protecting a drastic pay cut--by preventing a drastic pay cut for the doctors who take care of them.…”