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I’d like to share what might be my favorite interaction I’ve ever had with a lawmaker. A couple weeks ago, while Republican senators were trying to pass their budget reconciliation bill to fund immigration enforcement agencies, I was in a gaggle with the eminently quotable Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana. Another reporter asked him what the difficulty Republicans were having in passing a second reconciliation bill said about their ability to pass a third before the midterms.
“When people boldly declare we're going to do a third reconciliation package, I generally tell them, ‘I hope you're right, but, in the meantime, back off the crank,’” he said.
People laughed at that remark, but I didn’t quite hear what he said, so I wanted to make sure I could quote correctly a good John Kennedy-ism. When he finished speaking, I asked him, “Sorry, that was, back off the what?”
“The crank,” he replied. “You know what that is?”
