Political Quotes

“I appreciate very much the Senator's words of goodwill, and it aligns very well with the note of optimism that I want to open on after last night's vote. Last night's vote provoked the first real conversations--the first real, bipartisan conversations about this continuing resolution that I have seen. People all around the country watching C-SPAN saw right there on the Senate floor the Senators pooling about each other, the conversations, the back-and-forth, the intermediaries going in between the leaders. They saw live what the Senate should have been doing for weeks, which is to work in a bipartisan fashion toward a compromise. When starting at 20 minutes to midnight, it is hard to work it all the way through. My strong hope is that the energy and the spirit of bipartisanship that was evident right down here in the well last night persists through this weekend and as long as necessary to get a bipartisan deal accomplished. We have the weekend to do it, we probably even have Monday to do it, and we should get about our business. We can also be optimistic that the measures that the Democrats want to include are bipartisan. We are not trying to jam one-side-only poison pills through; we are trying to get attention to long overdue matters where there is a bipartisan solution. There is something of a backstory to where we are right now, so I want to mention it.…”