Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the first thing we are going to talk about-- I have had conversations in the last few days--in fact, a longer period of time than that--with Senator Vitter, Senator Coburn, Senator Johnson, Senator Shelby, and others on flood insurance. Like a lot of things that happen, it has become critical that we do something on flood insurance. It affects almost 6 million people. We need to get something done on a more permanent basis. There has been a general agreement--we do not have it in writing yet, but I want to make sure the record on the floor is clear what my intention is--that we would have a 60-day short-term extension. In that extension there would be language for the duration of 60 days that would include in that the second-home subject that is part of the underlying bill on which Senator Coburn is focused. That would be for 60 days. Then I would be happy to make a statement here on the floor today that during the next work period we will move to that bill, the flood insurance bill, so we would have the opportunity to make it permanent. It is very important we do that. With the economy being such as it is, we cannot, in this area--and probably others but in this one--we cannot have these short-term extensions. It does not allow people to do what they need to do. Mr. President, 40,000 homes a day go through a process where they have to have flood insurance. If there is no flood insurance, that is 40,000 loans every day that will not be approved.…”