Political Quotes

“Correct. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I want to begin by thanking my friends. They always bring interesting points to the floor, particularly the ranking member of the full committee, but also my friend Mr. Scott. I just want to assure them that, when we sit down to bargain, we will bargain in good faith, and all these things will--and I think appropriately should be--on the table and open for a fair discussion. I do point out to the body that, frankly, when we have done this before, we have been able to find common ground and been able to arrive at a final solution that had substantial bipartisan support for the last 3 years. I am confident that we can do that again this year and, frankly, it is very much my hope that we can do it before the end of the fiscal year. I think that is important that the domestic programs that we fund in the Labor-HHS bill, which my friend, the ranking member of the subcommittee, so ably advances and defends, that we do that without having a continuing resolution, something that interrupts the progress. That is even more important in the area of defense, that we avoid a continuing resolution. So I think there will be considerable goodwill on both sides and a considerable effort to come together in common ground. Having said that, I continue to oppose instructions to the committee because the conferees have proven before they can work together to produce a product. It is my hope that we will be able to do that.…”