Political Quotes

“Thank you very much for this opportunity to delve into what is a major piece of our work here in Washington, and that is the budget and the appropriation process. Today is one of those very, very important days in the process of government. Today the President delivered to Congress his proposed budget. It is required by the Constitution. George Washington did it, and every President since that time has done it every year, and today, we have President Obama's budget before us. I want to spend a few moments on that budget, together with my friend from New York, Mr. Paul Tonko and our East-West show. So we have got California and New York here. I would like to start off by kind of framing my own work and how I think we really need to approach what we do here. This is from Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Great Depression, and he laid out this test. It is on the Roosevelt Memorial here. It is etched into the granite stone there. It says: ``The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.'' It is how I like to frame the issues, and I think we can frame the President's budget that way, and also, this way: Those of you that have seen us here on the floor, Mr. Tonko and myself, we often and usually talk about this issue of Making It in America, rebuilding the great American middle class by rebuilding the manufacturing sector of America.…”