Political Quotes

“I am so gratified to hear the leader speaking on this topic. Yesterday, we had a vote that took 45 minutes. I suggested to the floor staff maybe we should do away with the 15-minute limitation and wait until the last person shows up. It is unfair to this body. I don't think the leader should plead with people to come. They would come very quickly if we start cutting off the votes. It is unfair to this body to wait around here while somebody is finishing a phone call or a workout in the gym while the rest of us are waiting to get work done. Also, if I could, through the Chair, we want to finish this Homeland Security appropriations bill. We have been working through these numerous amendments. We are at a point where I believe we could finalize this bill. Finally, as the leader knows, we wanted to have a cutoff on this. I understand the leader decided yesterday to take a look at it to see if there is something we could do to help the situation in Florida through this bill. I said yesterday--and still say this--let's finish this bill. We want to help Florida as much as we can, but I think, by trying to tie these two things together, it is not going to work very well. I respectfully submit to the leader, let's try to push forward and have a timeline when we can finish this bill. It is an important piece of legislation. We understand that. But it would set such a good tone if we could finish that prior to the holiday beginning tomorrow.”