Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Ryan for his great leadership in forging this particular agreement and putting us in a position to end on a positive note here as we approach the Christmas and holiday season. Mr. Speaker, I am going to bring a couple of different perspectives to the floor as I analyze this budget deal. The first perspective I have is that of being a former mayor for 12 years in a great city in northwest Arkansas where there was an enormous amount of economic development and we did a lot of great things. I sat at the table many times talking about issues and trying to balance the needs of our community against what the wants of our community were. I have to tell you that I never ended any of those negotiations getting everything that I wanted, but I always looked for an opportunity to find the common ground and to advance the economic development issues of our city where we could find that type of consensus. Mr. Speaker, I also bring the perspective of an appropriator. As somebody who came to Congress in 2011, I was immediately assigned to the Appropriations Committee. And, quite frankly, I have been frustrated through this entire process, living from CR to CR and never having the opportunity to do what appropriators are purposed in doing.…”