Political Quotes

“the unanimous consent I propounded that was objected to by the other side is exactly what we have been working on the last couple of weeks. It did say we would have a freestanding bill to bring a very important bill to the floor. We have spent several days, I believe 4 days, on that bill in the past. I had 24 amendments, 12 to either side, plus second-degree amendments, of which there is no limit for. But it was objected to. We will continue to work in that regard because I believe at some point we will be able to address that bill. What we will vote on, in hopefully a couple of minutes, is the germaneness of the Warner amendment, the authorization bill. The real challenge is if this bill is ruled germane, it will bog down what we are trying to do. There can be an endless number of amendments that are attached if it is germane; 130 have been filed. There would be unlimited second-degree amendments that could be applied toward the Warner amendment if that is found to be germane. The appropriate way to deal with the Warner amendment is as a freestanding authorization bill. I agree with Senator Warner. We need to do that, and we will work toward that in the future. I am disappointed the other side will not allow us to do it as a freestanding bill. Institutionally, if we start taking the huge authorization bills and start dumping them into the appropriations bill, the appropriations process, which is already difficult enough, is going do come to a grinding halt.…”