Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am grateful to the Democratic leader and to both Senators from New York for working with me on this and for getting this, along with my amendment and Senator Paul's amendment, set up for a vote. To be very clear--I want there to be no ambiguity--I would be willing to vote on this right now. There is no reason we should have to delay that. I am taking into account scheduling requests that were made by other Members of this body. As far as I am concerned and, as far as I am aware, as far as Senator Paul is concerned, we would be happy to vote on these immediately. There is no additional reason for delay. This is how the Senate is supposed to work. Each Member is supposed to have the opportunity to bring forward amendments to offer up improvements to legislation, to make sure that they happen and that they happen right. I respectfully but strongly disagree with my colleagues on the merits of some of the issues we have been discussing. We will debate those more in the coming days. I would reiterate that it is not unreasonable to suggest that a program that takes the unprecedented step of authorizing funding for something until 2092--that, coupled with language authorizing the expenditure of such sums as may be necessary, creates problems. It is one of the reasons we opt to vote on this amendment and one of the reasons I believe in this amendment. In any event, this is the kind of thing that ought not to be difficult.…”