Political Quotes

“for the benefit of all Senators--if I could have the attention of the Senate--we have before us why we are here. This was very difficult, to get to the point we are now, where we have a very important bill. We do these every 5 years. Senators Stabenow and Roberts have worked very hard to get us to this point. I congratulate them both, but we have a long way to go. First of all, everyone understand all the next votes will be 10- minute votes. That means at the end of 15 minutes we are going to cut off the vote. It doesn't matter if a Democrat is missing or Republican is missing; it does not matter. If it is a close vote, we always are careful with that, we understand, but let's understand when the time is up, we are going to turn in the vote. Second, I have instructed all of the presiders, we are going to have 1-minute speeches--1 minute for Democrats, 1 minute for Republicans. When the time is up, the time is going to end so everyone will be treated the same. We have 73 amendments we have to work through. We have a lot to do the rest of this week, but this is important. No. 1, we are going to keep the vote. I have an important meeting at 4 o'clock. I have instructed my staff, if I am not here I will not be counted. That is what we have to do. If you have important meetings, you might have to miss a vote or two. Second, I repeat, we will have 2 minutes equally divided before each vote, and it will be 2 minutes. Amendment No. 2429 The PRESIDING OFFICER.…”