Political Quotes

“today we will start a period of morning business until 3 p.m. Following that time, we will return to the debate on the Gulf of Mexico energy security bill. We have a cloture vote scheduled for 5:30 on this bipartisan bill. I hope cloture will be invoked and that we can then work together to bring that bill to a close at the earliest opportunity. This is our final week of business prior to the August adjournment, and we have some extraordinarily important measures to consider before we leave. We now have a freestanding pensions bill that has arrived from the House which we will need to consider before the close of the week. We also have a bill that relates to an increase in the minimum wage, death tax reform, and some other very important tax provisions. I expect to schedule that bill at the earliest time, and I hope we can get cooperation from all Senators. The Senate will address that package before we adjourn for the recess. Chairman Stevens is ready to bring the Department of Defense appropriations bill to the floor, and we will look for a window to have that bill debated and voted on as well. There are a number of nominations--judicial and otherwise--that I hope we can consider this week. We have a very aggressive agenda this week that has been laid out before us--a very important one because I believe the importance and weight of each of these bills demands that we address them this week.…”