Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I know my friend from West Virginia and I compliment the Senator from Maine. Before these two great former Governors came to this body, there were many times I would stand up and rail on these issues. It is great to have other folks who balanced budgets and made hard choices in their careers. I welcome the opportunity to share a couple of my thoughts. I will not repeat all of the comments Senator Manchin made. I concur with the vast majority of them. The data is overwhelming. I know the Presiding Officer has also taken on this issue. There are some good things, so let me start with some of the good. As someone who feared that at some point this tax extender package might exceed $800 billion or get close to $900 billion, I think it is an interesting place when folks are celebrating the fact that it is only $680 billion of unpaid-fors. In many ways, there is a lot to commend in the policy choices made by both sides. On the Democratic side, making permanent the earned-income tax credit is, frankly, a policy that was initiated by a Republican President and called the best anti-poverty program around. Expanding and making that permanent is a step in the right direction. The child tax credit is a policy raised by both sides, and making that permanent and expanding it makes an enormous amount of sense. I know, as well, that from a business standpoint, one of the challenges businesses face in an ever more competitive world is lack of predictability.…”