Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and for his extraordinary leadership as the chairman of the Rules Committee for so many years. I thank the chairman and the members of his committee for expeditiously bringing us to the floor for this very, very important legislation. This will probably be my last speech as Speaker of the House on this floor, and I am hoping to make it my shortest. Members have planes to catch, gifts to wrap, toys to assemble, carols to sing, religious services to attend to. In terms of singing songs, one that I always think of at this time and in this setting is an English song: Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, pleased to put a penny in the old man's hat. Yes, indeed, the goose is getting fat. We have a big bill here because we have big needs for our country. We have the largest defense appropriation ever and, again, to help us honor our oath of office to protect and defend, and what the Constitution says, provide for the common defense but, at the same time, pleased to put a penny in the old man's hat. We address the needs of America's working families, with special focus on our children. So I rise in strong support of this bipartisan omnibus government funding bill for us today, to keep from shutting the government down but, more importantly, to meet the needs of the American people. Let me applaud the magnificent appropriations chairwoman, Rosa DeLauro. She is a maestro with a baton.…”