Political Quotes

“I commend all that have been involved in a very bipartisan way, and just for the people whom I think we so adequately represent here in this body across the country that are wondering maybe what this is all about, this is a group of a few Members on both sides of the aisle that have gotten together and said that the discipline needs to be integrated into this budget agreement. There is a panacea out there that this is a great thing, and I think it has the potential of being a great thing if we follow through on it, and if we do not allow certain predictions that are part of our assessment today that might not come true to blow the thing apart later on. That is what this is about, enforcement provisions. Frankly, neither party has an exclusive on ideas or integrity, and much of this comes from the Blue Dog Coalition on the other side and very accurately, they have assessed that we need some discipline written into this agreement, and many on our side, led by the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Barton] and the gentleman from Delaware [Mr. Castle] and myself, have agreed to this, and now our leadership is accommodating our request that we have an opportunity to bring to this floor the details of how we need to enforce this provision as we go forward. I think that is important for the people to know, and people who have suspicion about this budget agreement can know that we are working to improve it before we finally report it out.”