Political Quotes

“tomorrow afternoon the Senate will vote to begin consideration of the bill called H.R. 240. This is a bill that authorizes funding for the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS. It would fund DHS through September of this year. This, of course, is a procedural vote we have scheduled for tomorrow, not a substantive one. The only question on the table, the sole question in connection with this particular vote, will be whether the Senate is ready to begin voting and debating on H.R. 240. I am ready--I am eager, in fact--to begin this debate. It does need to begin. That is what this vote is about. Not just because we have only 25 days before the current budget authority for DHS expires but also because this debate will finally allow the American people to see where their elected representatives, right here in the U.S. Senate, stand on President Obama's recent Executive action on immigration. The legislature is the only lawmaking branch within our Federal Government because it is the only deliberative branch in our government. Before Congress enacts a piece of legislation--before it makes a new piece of law--we first debate the merits of that legislation--weighing the various pros and cons of each proposal in a candid and transparent discussion, and allowing the various sides of the issue to make their case. Open, robust debate is not merely incidental to the lawmaking process that goes on here, it is the essence of that lawmaking process.…”