Political Quotes

“I rise to discuss the state of the ongoing negotiations to avert the fiscal cliff. So far there has been little progress reported at the negotiating table. Since the President's very productive meeting with the bipartisan leaders from the House and Senate on November 16, the subsequent staff talks have produced no breakthroughs. Republicans in the room are not yet acknowledging the need to let tax breaks for the very wealthiest Americans expire, nor are they offering the kind of reasonable reforms to entitlement programs that Democrats can be expected to support. But despite this impasse, as Leader McConnell described it on the floor yesterday, I am optimistic we can still get a deal by Christmas. I detect a great deal of progress being made beneath the surface. You only need to turn on television these past couple of days to observe the signs of this progress. For nearly three decades, a rightwing Washington lobbyist has exerted a stranglehold on mainstream Republicans over the issue of taxes, threatening political retaliation against any lawmaker who dared to vote for any fiscal solution that asked the wealthy to pay their fair share. But in the 3 weeks since the election, one Republican after another has been rebuking this lobbyist for his uncompromising stance on taxes. Republicans in both the House and Senate are deciding they no longer want to be married to this pledge. Republicans are saying they want a divorce from Grover Norquist.…”