Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to talk about the budget agreement before the Senate. We had a vote today on moving ahead to that legislation, and I supported that movement. I supported the cloture vote and will support the underlying budget agreement because it does take modest steps to reduce the deficit. It does so without raising taxes. It also relieves some of the sequester's worst impact on our national security, and it also prevents another government shutdown next month and also next year. I also support it because it is time for us to have a budget. We have not had a budget for 4 years. It will enable us to begin the process of having appropriations bills again. In the appropriations process, of course, we have oversight over the Federal departments and agencies and we prioritize spending, which is very important. Among other things, this will give us the opportunity to root out some of the waste and fraud and actually determine what programs are working and not working to be able to use the power of the purse that Congress has, to help be sure taxpayer funds are being used efficiently and effectively. As Members know, this agreement was the culmination of what is called a Budget Conference Committee between the House and the Senate. So it was Democrats and Republicans but also the House and Senate coming together. That has not happened in 4 years. So we have not had a budget in 4 years. We have not had a budget conference in 4 years.…”