Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, first, I want to thank my friend. As always, it is a privilege to have a debate and a discussion with him. I think his characterization of this legislation as a mixed bag is a fair characterization, but that is what I would expect in anything that is a compromise--and particularly a compromise of this magnitude. I take considerable pride, frankly, in all those involved in this. They did come to some major agreements. Again, I think each of the leaders of the House and of the Senate and certainly the President and his team could point to things they don't like in this bill or things they gave up or things they wanted that didn't make it. I know each of them has a long list of disappointments. But the bottom line is they found a way to get the job done. They found a way to sit down, work across the institutional divide, the partisan divide, their philosophical differences, and produce a good bill. I also want to agree with my friend on his concern about the process. He is precisely right; this is not the best way to operate. I am glad we got all these bills on the appropriations side through the full committee. I am proud that we got six of them across the floor. I am disappointed that our friends in the Senate, frankly, because of the minority's opposition, didn't get any onto the floor. They did get, though, in fairness, all 12 of theirs through committee. And that is progress for both bodies.…”