Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, today is day 182 of 1999, half way through the year. Over the past 6 months, Congress has climbed the mountain of Y2K liability reform legislation, and as we stand at the legislative summit, ready to pass legislation that Republicans, Democrats and the White House can support, we can only hope that our work will help those who are climbing an ever-larger mountain, those who are trying to fix their Y2K bugs before they hit. Our job is now done. For the next 6 months, we can only hope that this legislation, which will greatly reduce the threat of frivolous Y2K lawsuits, will allow our Nation's businesses to pour their energies into avoiding Y2K failures instead of planning their Y2K legal defenses. Frankly, I did not think that this moment would actually arrive. Just last week, we stood here facing the wide gulf of a weaker Senate-passed bill. We faced an even wider gulf with the White House which, up until last week, was nowhere to be seen in the negotiations and was backing badly defeated Senate proposals that provided nothing but smoke and mirrors for addressing the Y2K problem. Fortunately, all parties eventually realized that compromise is an essential part of successful legislating.”