Political Quotes

“Mr. President, this is the second week of the 112th Congress. I welcome back the Presiding Officer. I have spent many a Monday afternoon presiding over this Chamber as a new Member in my first 2 years. While they are not here, I welcome my new colleagues in the Senate and, obviously, our new colleagues in the House. We still have an enormous number of challenges facing us as a country, and I look forward to working with Members in both bodies to make sure we meet these challenges in a bipartisan way. Last year, I took up the banner that had actually been started by the Presiding Officer's colleague who preceded him in this Chamber, and that was the effort of honoring, on a regular basis, exemplary Federal employees right here on the Senate floor. It is a tradition that was begun by Senator Ted Kaufman. I want to start this new 112th Congress with what will be a weekly occurrence where I will come forward and recognize Federal employees who play an extraordinarily important role in our country. I have been blessed to have had a great number of those employees in the Commonwealth of Virginia, as the occupant of the Chair has been in Delaware. Today, I thought I would actually rise on no specific employee but to honor congressional staff on Capitol Hill and in the many congressional districts across the country. There are nearly 6,000 Federal employees in the Senate, and nearly 10,000 serve in the House of Representatives.…”