Political Quotes

“on occasion the Senate must turn to legislation we know will cause controversy: abortion, Social Security, always the war in Iraq, to name a few things that always cause controversy. Sometimes we find common ground on these; other times, after thoughtful, earnest debate, the two sides cannot converge in the middle. That is okay. But that is how this body was designed to work by the Founding Fathers. So I offer the words that will follow with an understanding that as majority party we cannot expect the Republicans to agree with us on everything. And when the legitimate pursuit of compromise eventually leads to a dead end, we accept that outcome and move on to the next challenge. But again and again this session our Republican colleagues have refused to work with us at all. They have rejected the difficult but critical job of legislating in favor of the easier but hollow path of obstruction and political gamesmanship. Sixty-eight times and counting since the beginning of this session the Republicans have filibustered legislation. That means that 68 times the Republicans have stopped us from even debating, even negotiating, even working on legislation for the American people. Think about that, 68 times. That is about once a week if you consider the days and the weeks we are out of session. Filibustering is far different from voting against a bill. I have no gripe, we have no gripe, with any Senator who objects to legislation and votes against it.”