Political Quotes

“I join the majority leader in welcoming everybody back to the Senate after the 2-week recess. We have a lot of business to attend to this week. Most importantly, we have to pass a spending bill to keep the government open. So far, the discussions between our two sides have been constructive and are progressing nicely. Without interference, I believe our two parties can come together on an agreement by the end of the week. The four-corner negotiations--that is Leader McConnell, Speaker Ryan, Leader Pelosi, and I--have been going very well, and a monkey wrench was thrown into them. I will caution: If the administration insists on poison pill riders or extraneous funding requests, then our talks could get sidetracked, particularly if the administration demands funding for a border wall. Democrats have been long clear that the border wall is a nonstarter. More than a month ago, here on the floor, from this desk, I warned against including funding for the border wall in any must-pass government spending bill. If the administration insists on funding for a wall in this bill, it will endanger the prospects of a bill's passing and raise the prospects of a government shutdown because a border wall, we believe, is a pointless waste of taxpayer money for several reasons. First, President Trump promised that Mexico would pay for the wall, not American taxpayers.…”