Political Quotes

“Mr. President, first of all, let me thank the chairman and Senator Collins for their work on this bill. I know it has caused a great deal of interest and consternation, but the numbers are overwhelming that without this kind of legislation, the fate of our Postal Service would be in great jeopardy. I commend both the chairman and ranking member for their very good work. I intend to support the legislation. I know they have had to make some hard choices, but I think they are putting the Postal Service back on the path to sustainability, and I commend their leadership. I also thank them both for an amendment they have been kind enough to include in, I believe, a revised bill, a managers' package, that takes on a related issue that affects not only Postal Service employees but all Federal employees; that is, the absolutely dreadful performance-- which is starting to be corrected, but the absolutely dreadful performance that OPM and agencies of the government, including the Postal Service, have done in terms of making sure our Federal employees receive their retirement benefits in a timely manner. The Presiding Officer and I, both from the Commonwealth of Virginia, have 130,000 Federal employees in Virginia. There are 140,000 Federal employees across the river in Maryland. I am happy Senator Mikulski has cosponsored the amendment I am going to talk about in a few moments.…”