Don Nickles: “just for the information of our colleagues, to make sure we make the record straight, my very good friend from the great…”

“just for the information of our colleagues, to make sure we make the record straight, my very good friend from the great State of Massachusetts has mentioned: Let people have a vote. Well, we have not had one vote--we have had three votes this year. We had a vote on the appropriations bill earlier this year. We had a vote on the budget. We had a vote on the tax bill. They did not win. They tried to double the program two or three times, unsuccessfully, and so they are now trying again. Frankly, we have a DOD authorization bill, we have a tax/economic growth package, we have a debt limit extension, and we need to pass UI. We have a lot of work to do in the next few hours. Some of us--let me rephrase that--this Senator is going to do what I can to make sure we are not going to double or triple this program. We have already had three votes on the proposal to double it. We are not going to do that. I don't know how many votes people think they need. They may think they are winning on the votes, but they are not winning on the issue. I think we may have consent to pass a clean extension. It takes unanimous consent. I tell my colleagues on the other side, who are playing this game, this will not work legislatively. And it may jeopardize a clean extension.”