Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the House has sent us a $42 billion year- long extension of several tax provisions known as tax extenders. This year-long extension is unpaid for, and while I will support this measure because several provisions in this bill need to be extended-- and soon--I must raise concerns about the approach here to once again stack the deck against middle-class families. They rightfully are concerned that they have been left out--and continually so--in policies that this body finds the will to pass. Case in point is the effort I engaged in all year with my Republican colleague, Senator Heller, to restore emergency unemployment insurance benefits for 1.3 million Americans. Now this program is typically considered an emergency measure because it has been fundamental to supporting our economic recovery, and as such the $24 billion cost to extend the program through 2014 would normally not be paid for. Well this year that was not the case and several of my colleagues, particularly House Republicans, insisted that this typical emergency measure be offset for it to get consideration. So Senator Heller and I worked with several of our colleagues to craft a paid-for measure that would extend the program for 5 months.…”