Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I would like to just briefly say that the matter of the merits of the Libya resolution the majority leader wants to move to is not something I am addressing at this point. It is a significant issue, and good Senators can disagree about that, but the reason we are here this week is because 46 Senators from the Republican side objected to the Memorial Day recess, because we have done nothing on the budget, and were clearly going to object again when it came to the Fourth of July because we have the debt ceiling issue that we are told creates an emergency by August 2. We haven't passed a budget in 797 days. The Democratic majority has not even brought one to the floor in that time. The country is spending itself into decline and damaging our future. We know that. It has been talked about for months. We have had no discussion in the Budget Committee, of which I am ranking member, about marking up any kind of budget this year. The Budget Act in the United States Code says we should pass the budget by April 15. So the objection I and others had to going home and recessing this week was not in order to discuss the Libya resolution; it was to get to work now to confront the financial situation we are in. We are not going to be serving our constituents well if some sort of secret agreement comes to fruition and a bill is plopped down on the Senate floor on August 1 that has to be passed by August 2. That is not responsible. It is not acceptable.…”