Political Quotes

“one of the distinct honors I have had is joining with the senior Senator from Maine in legislation that passed unanimously in this body and passed by an overwhelming margin in the House. It was an amendment we placed in the Treasury-Postal Service bill. It was a bill that we had introduced on the floor. On this occasion, we decided to limit it just to Federal employees, which we did. We were elated that we were able to make great strides on this issue about which we felt so strongly. And we were contemplating the day when this bill would be signed and become law, because certainly it should. It passed over here unanimously; passed the House by an overwhelming margin. I cannot speak for my colleague from Maine, but I am sure she feels just as disappointed as I am that this bill was stripped during the conference of the Treasury-Postal Service bill for really no reason. There was no debate among the conferees. It was just taken from the bill. It would be easy for me to be partisan here and say this is some cabal by the Republicans. The fact of the matter is, Mr. President, this bill had bipartisan support. It was not a Democratic bill; it was not a Democratic amendment. It was not a Republican bill, a Republican amendment. So I am here to complain about the process. This should not have happened. I am not going to point fingers as to why it happened, but it happened. I am tremendously disappointed.”