Political Quotes

“If I could be recognized for another brief moment this highlights how unfortunate it is that we don't look to the future as the Congressional Budget Office projections laid out for us yesterday. The Congressional Budget Office didn't talk about relitigating past votes here in the Senate. They said specifically the deficit was significantly lower than earlier projected, and, on the basis of what I have cited, economic experts of both political parties are saying it is time to look to the long-term challenges, particularly Medicare and taxes. I came today to say that a budget conference would provide that kind of window: the opportunity to look particularly at long-term health care challenges such as chronic care and Medicare. I see my colleague from the Senate Finance Committee, who knows we have been talking about tax reform, Democrats and Republicans; again, a bipartisan opportunity we could achieve through a conference. I proposed that today, based on the new evidence from yesterday. Regrettably, we can't go to conference because it seems the leader on the other side will only go to conference if we can relitigate the stuff that happened in the Senate which he lost. I hope colleagues will look at that new Congressional Budget Office report. I hope they will look at the jobs picture, the housing starts, all of which seem to be improving in the short term.…”