Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to the Senator from Arizona for his very thoughtful and careful approach to considering this legislation. I enjoyed working with the Senator during our days in the House of Representatives and remember well the vote the Senator cast back in 2007 after great study and reflection. I think we find ourselves in the position we are in right now, with an expanded bill that has protections for both sexual orientation and gender identity, because of the leadership of the Senator from Oregon. To the point of the concerns that have been raised in this colloquy, there has been a really exhaustive amount of research done on those States that have passed similar pieces of legislation at the State level and how they chose to move forward on employment protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. I have discussed with the Senator from Oregon on numerous occasions the approach most States have taken and the success these bills have had in helping to keep all of our employment decisions based on work ethic, character, and loyalty, and the subjects on which they should be focused. I look forward to working on this measure in the future, and I thank both the Senators from Arizona and the Senator from Oregon for their focus on ENDA.”