Political Quotes

“one thing I would like to say is that I don't want a shutdown, and I don't like where we are tonight--the fact that we are here and our backs are against the wall on a shutdown. I think we, collectively, have done a great disservice to the American people. I think they deserve better than what they are getting right now from Congress. I know the people I represent are hardworking. They are very sensible, kind of like the hard-working folks from the State of the Presiding Officer. But they are also very patriotic and they believe in this country. They believe in the values and the things that make this country great. They understand, the people of Arkansas, that right now we have 90,000 troops in Afghanistan and we have more than 45,000 in Iraq. They are there to serve this country and to serve the interests of this country. I can take something local such as the Little Rock Air Force Base, and I can say we have more than 5,600 airmen and about 640 civilian employees who could be affected in one way or another by this shutdown. About 2,000 employees of the Arkansas National Guard will be affected. There are 956 guardsmen on Active Duty who would continue to work without pay; 233 Arkansas Army Reservists are deployed overseas, including 23 who are designated for Libya. The people in my State do not want to see the military affected in any way by the partisan gamesmanship that you see in Washington. In fact, I would add a note to that.…”