Political Quotes

“I will be the last speaker for tonight. Let me close with a number of thank-yous. First, let me thank the Presiding Officer, Senator Landrieu of Louisiana, for staying past the midnight hour to help keep the Senate open. Let me thank Senator Merkley, who has been--to the extent one can be enthusiastic about staying until this hour, there he is, smiling. Yes, ``enthusiastic'' is the right word. He was part of a group Senator Schumer organized himself, along with Senator Michael Bennet, Senator Tom Udall, Senator Al Franken, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Senator Jeff Merkley, and myself, who worked together to redraft this legislation, trim it down, and to organize today's vote and events and tomorrow's vote. So I thank all of them for their enormously hard work. I thank the pages, who have had to stay very late, and the floor staff, who have had to stay very late. I appreciate the fact that we have put a burden on them and on their families, and we would not be doing that if we didn't consider this to be a very important issue. I wish to thank the entire Democratic caucus for their support. Our colleague Bill Nelson has had a unique experience. He has actually ridden a rocket up into space. He has been up with the NASA program as an astronaut. In some respects, I feel that I and others who were leading this were really doing nothing more than riding a rocket of the enthusiasm of our caucus to get this thing done for the sake of our country.…”