Political Quotes

“around here, we do not often see cloture motions signed by all four leaders. This cloture motion does have four leaders. We are serious about completing this bill at the earliest possible date. It would be a travesty if, having just completed a very significant piece of legislation led by Senators Collins and Lieberman, we not do our share of the legislative reform that needs to be done. The cloture motion was filed with reluctance. No one wanted to do it. But with the 8th of October staring us in the face literally, we have no choice but to do this. I hope people tomorrow will recognize there will be an effort made to offer these amendments. At 1 o'clock tomorrow, all first-degree amendments must be filed. That is the rule. I hope people will come and discuss with us what problems they see with this amendment. We will be happy to work with them, but I think people should be ready to offer their amendments. We have taken what we thought needed to be done from the 10 committees to give this committee, the homeland security committee, some strength. We hope people recognize that. I understand how people are concerned about maintaining the jurisdiction of what they have, but this is a time when people have to give up a little bit for the good of the country and for the good of the Senate. I totally support the cloture petition that was filed by the distinguished Senator from Kentucky on behalf of the two leaders because that is basically what happened.”