Political Quotes

“As Members of Congress, we have a serious responsibility to exercise proper oversight. This bill has long enjoyed broad bipartisan support and was brought up through an open process that allowed all voices to be heard and all opinions to be considered. Now, I was proud to work in a bipartisan manner with Ranking Member Bishop on this bill. He is a good friend and a good man and a good partner. We considered, together, 715 Member requests while drafting this bill, of which 562 were from Democratic Members, and we did our best to accommodate the Members on both sides of the aisle. I believe we did. We were successful. We then considered 43 additional amendments, proposals yesterday and all last night. This motion to recommit could have been offered at anytime during this debate, but they chose to do it tonight. By the way, I should let you know, too, the bill that we are going to be considering passed last year with all but one vote. The bill that we are going to be considering spends 6 percent more than the one last year. I want to say something about the motion to recommit. It reflects the administration's continuing efforts to deflect their management failures at the VA on the Congress. And the gentlelady who just spoke said this bill cuts spending. Well, it does not. {time} 1900 It is a 6 percent increase over last year. It is not a cut.…”