Political Quotes

“the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Gates, told all of us the Wednesday before we broke for Thanksgiving that the troops would be fine--the Army until the first of March, the Marines until the middle of March. That is what he told us. I believe him. I have talked to him since then. He has confirmed that. I know there is spin from the White House that they are going to start laying people off. Let's be realistic. We have a request before the Senate to allow a registry to be created so we can try to find a cure for a dread disease. We are going to be out of here hopefully in a few days, hopefully a week or 10 days. We are going to complete the funding for our country prior to that time. Part of that consideration--I have spoken to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle--is what do we do about the President's request, his $196 billion request for more money for Iraq. We have to take a look at that. We want to take a look at that. I am concerned that we fund the Government. We don't want a Government shutdown. Maybe some people in the White House would like that. We don't want a Government shutdown. We are going to work very hard to accomplish that. Today, there are going to be a number of requests for pieces of legislation that are important. I believe people with Lou Gehrig's disease deserve a few minutes of our time today. That is what I asked that we pass. It was objected to. I understand that, but that is really too bad.”