Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I spent 20-some years learning the process, working my way through the process of the Texas Legislature; and I can tell you that this process is worse. And it's worse in the sense that so much time and effort went forward by Mr. Lucas and the ranking member, Mr. Peterson, to craft a very carefully done bipartisan product. It came to the floor, and people who had no intention of voting for the bill in the first place were suddenly allowed to amend it. And what we have today is a product that has jettisoned the nutrition part of that bill. And so when we do that, we jettison the women and the children and the elderly and the families who depend on that part of the bill. Ninety-eight percent of the households who take SNAP in the district that I represent are elderly or kids, and they're jettisoned entirely in this process. {time} 1415 This process isn't supposed to work this way. It's supposed to be bipartisan. It's supposed to be a product that is carefully crafted by the committee chair and the ranking member working together. It's unfortunate that it has come to this, and I simply cannot support a bill that jettisons our kids and jettisons our elderly.”