Political Quotes

“Mr. President, on March 2, we voted on a short-term continuing resolution. We vote today on another. I opposed the earlier measure, and for the same reasons, I oppose this one as well. First, this legislation makes unjustified cuts in important Federal programs. These cuts will affect the safety and well-being of Americans who already have suffered through the worst recession since the Great Depression, and who still are waiting for a robust economic recovery to lift their fortunes. The cuts in this bill include a more than 15-percent reduction in important agricultural research programs that help our farmers fight threats such as plant diseases and invasive species. And they include a reduction of $200 million--almost 25 percent--in funding for community- oriented policing grants that help local law enforcement agencies afford the equipment they need to keep our communities safe. Second, while this legislation will do real damage to important programs, it will have little effect on its professed target: the Federal budget deficit. Focusing solely on cuts in nondefense discretionary spending, as this and previous continuing resolutions have done, cannot solve our budget problems, because those programs make up less than 15 percent of our budget.…”