Political Quotes

“in the last few months, the Senate has achieved record progress in going through our appropriations bills. As we return from the Labor Day weekend, the Senate has already passed 9 of the 12 Appropriations bills by overwhelming bipartisan margins. The Appropriations Committee has reported the remaining three bills, again, with bipartisan support. The end of the fiscal year is only a few short weeks away, but looking at the record pace of our work here in the Senate, there is no reason we can't conference all of these bills with the House and send all nine to the President's desk before October 1. It would be quite an accomplishment. It would show the American people that when it matters, Congress can come together and do the job we were sent here to do. That includes passing responsible, thoughtful, and well-considered appropriations bills on time and on budget. When I became vice chairman of Appropriations, with Senator Shelby as chairman of Appropriations, we pledged to each other and the Senate that we would move these bills in a way they had not been moved in years and that we would do it in a bipartisan way. It is important that we conference all of the bills we have passed in the Senate so far and then send them to the President's desk. We cannot just pick and choose and say: We will do this one based on political expediency but not this one. That would put us right back in the trap in which we had been in past years.…”