Political Quotes

“today, we will have a brief period of morning business before we resume consideration of S. 852, the asbestos bill. Although Members may come down and make statements relative to the bill, there are going to be no rollcall votes today, as I explained last night. Last night, we vitiated cloture and confirmed a nomination that was scheduled for a vote today; and given that action, it is not necessary to have that vote this morning. We did hope to consider and vote on amendments during today's session. However, at this time, there is a motion to waive the budget pending, and that will require further debate. In addition, we are approaching the final week prior to the President's Day recess. We want to use all our time effectively to work through the asbestos bill and other remaining business. I talked with the Democratic leader about a number of issues that we will address over the course of the next 8 or 9 days. There is the tax reconciliation bill that has gone to conference. We have 10 hours on that. There are the issues surrounding the PATRIOT Act that needs to be reauthorized. Great progress has been made over the last 24 hours in a bipartisan way. At the close of business today, I will outline next week's schedule. Senators should plan on a very busy week prior to the recess, with voting over the course of next week. Asbestos I briefly want to comment on the asbestos bill and where we are today and the significance of this underlying bill.…”