Political Quotes

“I thank the Chair for making this very clear; that repealing free choice vouchers--the opportunity to come up with a marketplace-oriented approach for people in a health care no man's land--in this spending bill is clearly legislating on an appropriations bill and that is not the way the Senate traditionally does business. If this provision were brought up in the Senate, we now know it would be ruled out of order. It would be ruled out of order because in the Senate we simply do not legislate on appropriations bills. The Senate doesn't legislate on appropriations bills for a simple reason. Every Senator knows it would be open season for the special interest lobbyists all over this town. The administration and this body took a stand earlier this year against earmarking--something the Chair is very much aware of--and I wish to quote from the President's State of the Union Address. The President said: The American people deserve to know that special interests aren't larding up legislation with pet projects. Both parties in Congress should know this: If a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside it, I will veto it. Madam President, I wish to have somebody explain the difference between letting a lobbyist slip an earmark into an appropriations bill and slipping legislative language into an appropriations bill that benefits a whole array of special interest lobbyists. It sure seems to have the same effect to me.…”