Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to speak briefly about what occurred yesterday on the Senate floor when the Senate and the House of Representatives overrode a veto in order to ensure that the victims of 9/11 had an outlet, if you will, to try to seek justice and compensation. It was not as satisfactory as most in this body would hope. I am hopeful that over the course of time between now and the lameduck, or shortly thereafter, we will have a way to rectify some of the issues that concern us. I don't think many Members are aware of that fact that Senator Cardin and I attempted throughout the last weekend to set up a meeting with the White House to go over options that could, in fact, be more beneficial to our country and, at the same time, give some justice to the people of 9/11. I think many people here know that there were Saudi officials here seeking to come up with some option that might work better than the option that we all opted for, with none other available, yesterday. We were unable to get the President to convene a meeting that we had hoped would include the Secretary of State--we had a couple of conversations with Secretary Kerry and I also had conversations directly with the White House--and to set up a meeting between the President and Secretary Kerry, and, of course, Leader McConnell, Leader Reid, Senator Cardin, and myself, as well as the two major sponsors of the bill.…”