Political Quotes

“I want to also thank the distinguished majority leader for his work in bringing this up. This can sometimes be a contentious bill, as he knows. His efforts in working also with the distinguished Democratic leader, Senator Daschle, paid off. And the distinguished majority leader had the patience to allow Senator McConnell and me to work through an awful lot of amendments on both sides of the aisle. I thank the distinguished Senator from Nevada, Mr. Reid. We heard periodically the crunch in the Cloakroom as he broke a few arms, but we moved it through and got an overwhelming vote. Senator McConnell showed close cooperation with me and with Senators on both sides of the aisle throughout the process. I enjoy working with him. I know he agrees we need more resources for some of these issues, and we will work together to get them. We have many interests around the world. We know U.S. leadership costs money. I think Senator McConnell and I have tried to show a bipartisan cohesion on that. I thank the staff. They spent many long days and late nights, many long weekends in getting this far. I appreciate that. Robin Cleveland, Senator McConnell's chief of staff on the Foreign Operations Subcommittee, as always, has been a pleasure to work with. She shows enormous competence and knowledge. I appreciate that. Her assistant, Jennifer Chartrand, was indispensable to this.”