Political Quotes

“I would like to tell the distinguished Senator from Delaware how much I appreciate him and his friendship, and it is genuine. I guess the thing that is so maddening about serving in the Senate is that everyone in this body--the Senator from Delaware, the Senator from New Hampshire--everyone who serves in this body understands the problems that confront our country that he so eloquently described in terms of unfunded liabilities for Medicare and Social Security, which are on a path to bankruptcy, the debt, and just imagine, if interest rates were to go up, what that would mean in terms of our ability to fund everything from safety net programs to national defense. But it never seems to happen. The date never seems to arrive when we actually sit down and address it. And I believe this number of days without a budget is really symptomatic of the problem. But thanks to our colleagues across the Capitol--who passed a ``no budget, no pay'' bill, which has now been signed by the President--unless Congress passes a budget, we are not going to get paid, which is entirely appropriate and long overdue. So I would just say to my friend, and he is my friend, that I appreciate his comments. I hope someday soon we can find a way, Republicans and Democrats alike--that is the only way it is going to happen--I hope we can get serious about this. Unfortunately, it hasn't happened yet. I am an optimist. I think it can happen.…”