Political Quotes

“As we come to the floor this afternoon to talk about this sequester issue, the clock is ticking. Every moment we delay in dealing with the budget issue is a moment of time that does not increase confidence in our economy, that does not bring more certainty to our economic situation, and that does not reduce the deficit. I heard the previous speaker say that this legislation that is on the floor would end sequestration. It does not. That is one of the major differences between it and the Democratic proposal put forth by Mr. Van Hollen. Unfortunately, afraid of debate on the floor, the Republicans on the Rules Committee did not allow Mr. Van Hollen's proposal to come to the floor today so that we could have a vote on it; but even with that, we can have a debate on it. The debate is about fairness. It's about balance. It's about living up to our responsibilities. It's about saying, yes, we all have to compromise--there will be cuts; we need revenue; we want growth. That's what Mr. Van Hollen's proposal does. It does, indeed, replace the sequestration. It is a better plan. It actually does end sequestration, as I mentioned, through a mix of cuts and revenues. The reason we have a problem here is that our Republican colleagues have refused to have one red cent from the wealthiest people in our country contribute to resolving this fiscal crisis, this budget crisis--not one red cent.…”