Political Quotes

“I once again express my strong support for the efforts of the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Mikulski, and the chairwoman of the Budget Committee, Senator Murray, as they work to reach agreement with their counterparts in the House of Representatives to resolve the impasse over the fiscal year 2014 budget. Washington today is filled with naysayers. But as broken as the budget process is, and as pessimistic as many people are, I remain hopeful about the possibility of reaching a compromise that can bring us back to some semblance of the regular order everyone claims to want. If there ever were two Senators who could find a way through the morass, it is Senator Mikulski and Senator Murray. And they should know there are a great many of us, including some on the Republican side of the aisle, who are 100 percent behind them. I encourage all Senators to read David Rogers' piece in Tuesday's edition of POLITICO, entitled ``Barbara Mikulski's fight: Protecting appropriations''. It tells the story, and in doing so, it pays tribute to Senator Mikulski. I am not naive about the obstacles ahead, not the least of which is the shortness of time. We need a top line number from the budget conferees by the end of next week if we are to complete appropriations bills by January 15 when the current continuing resolution expires. There is no mystery about what needs to happen.…”