Political Quotes

“I was presiding during the time that my friend, Senator Corker, was speaking. I did not have the chance to respond. But I want to assure him, through the Chair and through this question, that as the distinguished Senator from Missouri has just said, this was not planned on our side, at least not by me. I came for the votes. The only surprise tonight was my surprise that a Senator was going to stop our unemployment insurance program. It never crossed my mind, until it just happened tonight, that was within the realm of possibility. I have 75,000 people unemployed in my small State of Rhode Island. We are at 13 percent unemployment. So when I discovered, as a surprise tonight at these votes, that this was going to happen, like Senator Durbin, I could not just walk away from this Chamber. No way. No way. But it was not as part of a planned surprise. The person in my life who was surprised as to what happened tonight was me. Frankly, I am still surprised, and I am surprised this has not resolved itself during the course of this discussion. I am surprised that the 75,000 people in Rhode Island and over 1 million people in this country, who are going to wake up to the worry and concern and extra anxiety that Senator Sanders spoke about, are going to have to face that. I think it is unfortunate. But it is not because of a surprise attack by me.…”