Political Quotes

“my colleagues today have all had the same concern. That is, while we recognize the need to address the debt limit that our country is now up against, we also recognize that the defense of our country is a critical and necessary part of our responsibility as well. The concern that many of us have with the proposal right now is that, in order to raise the debt limit, part of it has a series of conditions with regard to what happens to the dollars that it takes to actually defend our country for the next 2 years. We want to be able to raise the debt limit--we recognize that--but we also have to address the need for the defense of our country. Why should we, as a part of the negotiation, be required to look at a reduction--a reduction--in the amount of dollars necessary for our young men and women to be able to defend our country? Within the provisions of this bill, there is a reduction of up to 1 percent of the existing budget if we don't do an appropriations process. Yet, in order to do the appropriations process, we have to have 12 separate bills. The 12 separate bills all have to be passed. Now, the U.S. Senate is not known for necessarily doing anything on time. Yet here we come up to the end of the fiscal year in October, and we haven't seen appropriations bills on the floor yet.…”