Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank the good Senator from Maryland for his remarks. I am sure, as I call on my vice chairman, Senator Hutchison will have remarks she will want to make. I simply wish to catch us up to where we are. This is the Federal aviation bill. It has been deemed to be only the Federal aviation bill, which is good, because that means extraneous amendments are not germane. We are trying to work our way through this aviation policy issue business, which actually is turning out, so far, to be quite smooth. People commented it is being done in a bipartisan fashion. That is the way Senator Hutchison and I work always and it is the way the committee works and is probably why we put out more nominations and legislation than any other committee. We have a number of pending amendments. I know my colleagues also have others. Some will come to the floor this afternoon to get into the queue and speak on those amendments. We are making progress resolving some of the pending amendments. Others, I believe, will require votes. If we can do something without a vote, that is great. If we have to have a vote, that is also fine. In addition, Senator Hutchison and I continue to work to resolve the issue of slots at National Airport. I thank all our colleagues for engaging in a constructive conversation on this very difficult issue.…”