Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, the bill that is before us today is an unbalanced package of cuts that hurts the most vulnerable populations in our society and the working middle class. There was a budget agreement on a bipartisan basis between the Congress and the President by which we would shield low-income programs from the cuts that are now before us today. That agreement is being rejected, and the Republicans are pushing for cuts for low-income programs such as Medicaid, SNAP--which is the food stamp program-- helped by the Social Services Block Grant and which are vital to maintaining and continuing our economic recovery. These are the safety net programs. With the slashes in Medicaid, we will have hundreds of thousands of people, including 300,000 children, denied health insurance. Is this something that we have to do when we're not letting others do their fair share? The bill would establish a Federal medical malpractice system that tramples on the meaning of states' rights, which the Republicans have said is a central tenet of their point of view. They would undermine our future health care by cutting prevention and public health investments. They would make it harder for women to access important and life-saving preventative care, and they fail to protect Medicare from billions of dollars in cuts that would happen under the sequestration. But we shouldn't be surprised. This is all based on the Ryan budget that the Republicans passed on the House floor last month.…”