Political Quotes

“the bills we brought before the Senate-- Energy and Water, Financial Services, Foreign Operations--are all within the agreement we made in July, the deficit reduction package, debt ceiling package we passed. It passed the Senate, passed the House, was signed by the President. So my friend from Louisiana is trying to renegotiate something that was passed after we did 3 months' work on it. I regret that there has been objection to my request, but what I just sought was the same understanding we had in the last appropriations measure, which worked pretty well. We passed those three bills. The conference should be completed momentarily. We will have to vote on that this coming week. Included in that is the CR to fund the government until sometime in the middle of December. But there has been an objection to proceeding along those same lines. Everything that was raised by my friend from Louisiana--is what the amendment process is all about. But we wanted it to be the way we have done it in the past--that on these appropriations matters, the amendments would have to be germane. But he was unwilling to live by that standard and offered amendments that had nothing to do with the underlying bill. That is what the American people can't stand. The Senate has rules that govern appropriations measures. These Senate rules are necessary because appropriations matters are must-pass bills, and we need some rules to prevent them from becoming Christmas trees.…”