Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, it's good to be back and wishing you and all of our colleagues the best of this new year and happy new year, and I hope yours and the other 433 Members of this august body had a great holiday season. For many Americans that was not the case, however. Unemployment remains high and, unfortunately, just before we broke for the Christmas holidays, we did pass a piece of legislation that extended the unemployment insurance, and that's really important, and also extended for 2 months the reduction in the payroll tax, and that put money into the pockets of working men and women around this Nation. We have much work to do this year. We just heard a presentation on the Keystone Pipeline, which will add a few jobs, some 6,000 jobs, temporary, building the pipeline, and that's good. The rush to judgment on it, however, should be very cautiously approached. Pipelines can be dangerous. You only need to look in California, where a gas pipeline exploded and the recent Yellowstone contamination that was caused by a broken oil pipeline. Haste can make waste, and it can cause problems, so I would urge us to be circumspect. I suspect someday this pipeline will be built, but it ought to be built properly and in the right locations. But the subject of tonight's discourse is really about jobs. I'll be joined a little later by my friend Paul Tonko from the great State of New York, and perhaps Marcy Kaptur from Ohio will be here.…”