Political Quotes

“I come to the floor to continue this debate about the Armed Services bill we are considering on the floor today, and I would just note for my colleagues that I know that it is a general practice, but my colleague from Vermont is bringing up a very big, important point about amendments, and that is that the NDAA is marked up in a secret, closed-door session. It is not like we all have a bright light, and we know what is in there. In fact, they held the language for 3 weeks and then now, all of a sudden, thrust it onto the Senate floor and then don't want us to offer any amendments. In my case, I am objecting, along with the Senator from Vermont, as to a major shift in policy that is in this proposal that shifts money away from the Department of Energy and onto nuclear weapons, where we didn't even vote on it. We didn't vote on it, and members of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee are in disagreement about this, the fact that we weren't consulted and that it is basically raiding jurisdiction. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter signed by myself, Senator Lamar Alexander, Senator Heinrich, Senator Cassidy, Senator Wyden, Senator Barrasso, Senator Risch, and Senator Sanders from Vermont. We object. We are members of the committee. We are very senior members of the committee. We understand the DOE budget. We understand the DOE responsibilities.…”