Political Quotes

“Mr. President, while I am disappointed that we didn't continue the tradition of alternating speakers, I am glad that I got to hear both of the previous speakers. I used to work with the Senators from Colorado to make sure that there were pictures taken annually from the same spots to show the way the trees are dying. There was an infestation that was causing this. The only reason we don't still take those pictures is all the trees are dead. You can't show that it is spreading when they are all dead. They need to be cleaned up, and I am glad there is work being done on forest management. On healthcare, there is some effort being made between Senator Alexander and Senator Murray to get a bipartisan bill, but what we need to do around here is get some of the appointments finished up so that the President can have the people in place to solve these problems. We are having to spend 30 hours on the cloture of a district judge. I have never heard of that. I have been here 21 years now, and I have never heard of that. We have to get the appointments through. That is one of our prime jobs--to provide advice and consent for the President--and it is not happening on a timely basis. We have had to do 44 cloture motions on different people for the administration. At this point in President Obama's first term, that had only happened five times. With the previous President, it hadn't happened at all, and the previous one, it had only happened once.…”