Political Quotes

“as the chairman said just a few moments ago on the floor, there has been a lot of hard work on the Defense bill over the course of the last month and over the course of the day. We continued to clear amendments on both sides. And although we have been in a quorum call, off and on, over the course of the night, as the chairman implied, there have been a lot of negotiations, and a lot of progress has been made in addressing the large number of amendments that we, at 6:30, realized we had. We continue to clear amendments on both sides, and we have entered into an agreement for votes on approximately five amendments tomorrow morning. Unfortunately--and I made it clear to both managers and representatives of our leadership and leadership on the other side of the aisle--it is still unclear as to exactly how we are going to bring this bill to closure, how we will finish this bill. We have had this large number of consultations throughout the evening with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and I do think it is time we bring the bill to conclusion. I believe it is really past that time. But, again, everybody is working in good faith. I do respect Members' rights to offer amendments. However, as majority leader, I am charged with ensuring that we finish our work and that we are able to address the other very important work ahead of us. I specifically mentioned, in this case, the appropriations bill which provides the funding to support our troops overseas.”