Political Quotes

“If he will just withhold--and he can offer his amendment--I do want to say this. We get nowhere with dueling amendments. We have learned that in the past. Dueling amendments don't do the trick. The issue is pronounced, it is here before us, and we went a step further. In the past we haven't paid for this. Five times, President Bush signed bills extending unemployment benefits not paid for. Again, we have done a good job reducing the debt. We have a lot more we can do, but we have reduced it almost $3 trillion already. The issue now before us is are we going to extend benefits for people who have been unemployed for a long time. That is the question. We bent over backward to try to come up with a compromise, a bipartisan piece of legislation. I repeat, it is paid for with a Paul Ryan pay-for. There are structural changes. It is a pretty good deal. I am very disappointed we are at a point now where we have been for 5 years. Nothing is ever quite good enough. They always want more amendments. They always want more amendments. But the issue is before us. Is this body going to vote to extend unemployment benefits paid for with Paul Ryan's pay-for and with structural changes or are they going to turn their back on people who are desperate?”