Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator from Louisiana for her desire to see this to a conclusion. I appreciate the many ways we have been able to work together on so many issues. Look, I do not rise to blame either side right now. I do not. Let's face it, I have said from day one the effort that was taking place in the House regarding the health care bill was not an effort that was going to lead to a conclusion. It was an overreach. I know that. You know that. They know that. The country knows that. So we have ended up where we are. But in fairness what has happened over the last couple of days is--on the other side of the aisle it has gotten one tick too cute. We had a group of folks who had an idea. I thought it was a good starting place, candidly. We had six Republicans and six Democrats who had an idea of a way to move beyond this. Let's face it. We all know what happens around here. Two nights ago the White House weighed in and leadership on the Democratic side pulled back a hair, asked the 12 folks not to have a press conference yesterday to announce what their efforts were. The fact is we are where we are. Let me say this. I am perfectly happy with the two leaders negotiating a deal, and I want to support the leaders in negotiating a deal. I truly am. But at the end of the day what happened, let's face it, is we have had a little bit of a pullback where House Republicans overreached, no question.…”