Political Quotes

“Absolutely. We are the largest State in the Union with 38 million people. We have more people on Social Security and Medicare than any other State. They know what the stakes are. They are smart. If we look at the polls, 70 percent of the people say: Tax millionaires and billionaires; they should pay their fair share. Spare Social Security, Medicare, education and the things that we need. We are here in a manmade crisis. This is unnecessary. This has never been done before, and I think the people have to understand that. Never ever has this been done before. We raised the debt ceiling 18 times when Ronald Reagan was President. I happened to be in the House of Representatives. Yes, a few people here and there voted no once in a while, but no one ever thought of bringing down that vote. We cannot have the greatest country in the world defaulting on our bonds. We cannot have us defaulting on our contracts. Small businesses are calling me--I say to my friend from Ohio and my friend from Maryland and my friend from Alaska--and they are saying they cannot get credit now. The banks are fearful. They are only getting overnight credit. What are we doing in this manmade crisis? We have a long history of working together at times such as this. Leader Reid's office is open. The door is open. This is the time to work together. We have until 1 in the morning when we hope we can get an up-or-down vote on Leader Reid's proposal. I know there are talks going on.…”