Political Quotes

“first, I wish to say the same thing. It sounds as though it is all rehearsed, but it is not. It is actually a reality that I have always felt I could call and talk to the chairman about things we might not have in common--although I can only remember one issue where we were on opposite sides, but we have our reasons for being on opposite sides. Unless we work those out, then between John Bonsell and Peter, it is always a joy to be able to call and know I am reaching the top and we are going to be able to come up with a decision. I talked to a lot of the Republicans who voted against this, and I want the chairman to be aware of this. I think almost all of them who voted against it voted that way for one reason; that is, the process. They wanted to have amendments. They are entitled to amendments. I think we said that over the last 10 years we have averaged 9 days of debate on this most significant bill each year. That is an average. We have had about 100 amendments on average. So that is something both the chairman and I agree should have happened, but it just didn't happen. We can't really blame one side more than the other. Then, of course, when the nuclear option came, that got things pretty hostile here, and unfortunately what suffered was our bill. I feel strongly that we have a good bill.…”