Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I will read a statement that was issued by Speaker Boehner and myself a few minutes ago. This is the statement: We have agreed to an historic amount of cuts for the remainder of this fiscal year, as well as a short-term bridge that will give us time to avoid a shutdown while we get that agreement through both houses and to the President. We will cut $78.5 billion below the President's 2011 budget proposal, and we have reached an agreement on the policy riders. In the meantime, we will pass a short-term resolution to keep the government running through Thursday. That short-term bridge will cut the first $2 billion of the total savings. I, first of all, express my appreciation to the Speaker and his office. It has been a grueling process. We did not do it at this late hour for drama. We did it because it has been very hard to arrive at this point. I also express my appreciation to my counterpart, Senator McConnell. We have talked during this process on a number of occasions. We have, as we say here, on many occasions it has turned out to be we have a terrific relationship. We do our best to protect each caucus. We have our battles here. But he is a pleasure to work with. I admire and appreciate his work for the people of Kentucky and the country. This has been a long process. It has not been an easy process. Both sides have had to make tough choices, but tough choices are what this job is all about.…”