Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise to speak on the current state of partisan budget negotiations. For weeks now, the offices of the Senate majority leader, the House Speaker, and the White House have been engaged in serious talks seeking a long-term budget agreement. It has been a long hard process. There have been a lot of fits and starts in the negotiations. But it is no exaggeration to say that as of last week talks were on a smooth path toward a compromise. The Speaker's office was negotiating in good faith. The parties significantly narrowed the $51 billion gap on how much spending should be cut. House Republican leaders had agreed to come down from H.R. 1 and meet us halfway. We could begin to see light at the end of the tunnel. But suddenly, at the end of last week, House Republicans did a strange thing: They pulled back from the talks. They changed their minds about what level of spending cuts they could accept. We were on the verge of a potential breakthrough, and they suddenly moved the goalposts. We felt a little bit like we were left at the altar. Not only did they abandon the talks, they started denying that they were ever close to a deal in the first place. Majority Leader Cantor issued a statement Friday saying that reports that progress was being made were ``far-fetched.'' It was as if they decided that even the appearance of a looming compromise was a political liability. It was surreal. It is no surprise what happened.…”