Political Quotes

“It is good to be back this year to once again offer the President's budget as an amendment to the Republican budget. That is right; it is the President's budget that I will be offering again this year. You may recall, Mr. Chairman, that I did this two years ago in an effort to try and drive a debate over what I thought was a misguided document, a document that the President had offered us that I thought offered bad ideas for the future of this country. I came in and offered an amendment--as none of my Democratic colleagues saw fit to do so--and for various reasons failed to get a single vote on that particular amendment. My colleagues at that time, Mr. Chairman, took the position that my amendment really was not the President's budget. In hindsight, there were things that we could have tightened up, and we did. We tightened up all the loose ends. There is no question now we specifically reference the President's budget in this amendment. This is the President's budget. Last year, I tried to come and do it again. Last year, I came in with a blank piece of paper. Last year I came in with a blank piece of paper because the President had not offered his budget in a timely fashion, as required by law. Perhaps rightly so, I was ruled out of order, and we did not have a chance to have a vote on that particular amendment last year. The President has solved that problem for us this year.…”