Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee and congratulate him on a very successful patent bill that passed with an overwhelming vote. I was pleased to work with him on that as a partner for 2 years when I was ranking member of that committee. I think it was a good day. Mr. President, we will soon be moving toward a vote on the continuing resolution. Apparently, there are going to be two options given to us. The question I would pose to our colleagues and to the American people is, Do we have to do something or can we do nothing? Is nothing an option? That is what the Democratic proposal is--nothing, zero, nada. So we had in the Budget Committee, which I am the ranking member now, the testimony yesterday of Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles. Senator Simpson is a Republican from Wyoming, and Mr. Bowles was President Clinton's Chief of Staff and a well-known business and Democratic leader. This is what they told us yesterday in their written statement. Both of them put this in to us: We believe that if we do not take decisive action our nation faces the most predictable economic crisis in its history. They have spent months wrestling with these numbers. A majority of the members voted for the reforms they proposed, and they gave a lot of time and effort to it. I did not think they went far enough in some of the areas. But I would say they made a real significant attempt to deal with the crisis we face.…”