Political Quotes

“Mr. President, thank you very much. Let me particularly express my appreciation to the chairman of the full committee, Senator Dodd. He has been extraordinarily patient, and especially with the large bipartisan coalition that has come together behind this amendment to ensure that finally the secret hold in the Senate--one of the most powerful tools a Senator has in the Senate--is no longer. I say to the Presiding Officer, you have done very good work on this issue, along with a number of colleagues on both sides of the aisle. The reason we feel so strongly is because the secret hold in the Senate is an indefensible violation of the public's right to know. We all understand every time we are home in our States how frustrated people are with the way business is done in Washington, DC. One way to send a message we are going to start doing business differently is to throw open the doors of government and to make sure nominations and legislation that is important gets debated in public, and people actually get to see the give-and-take of colleagues on both sides of the aisle--Democrats and Republicans--that is essential to making good policy. Most Americans have no idea what a secret hold is, and I have said on many occasions that my guess is a lot of them think this is some kind of hair spray or something.…”