On the recordDecember 18, 2013
No one party can get you there. This is the way you have run the place. What happens when you fill up the tree? You cannot fix things. Here is what is wrong with that. You cannot fix the things that politically are bad for you and expect the rest of us to go away quietly because we have something we want to do. So this filling of the tree process is not good for something this big, and I hope people would be responsible with their amendments. But, again, it goes back to how did this happen? I do not believe for a moment that Patty Murray or Paul Ryan meant to hurt disabled veterans. I do not believe that. I think the whole issue was not looked at. These things are put together very quickly. I am on the Budget Committee. The Senator from New Hampshire is on the Budget Committee. The Senator from Alabama is on the Budget Committee. I had no idea. Nobody asked me if this was a good idea. I did not even get to look at it. I got to read about it in the paper. That is what happens when you put the deals together with just a handful of people. You make mistakes, because the more eyes the better. You find yourself here talking about something, quite frankly, that we all know is wrong.
