Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Rules. {time} 1100 Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, what we are doing here today is simply insane. For 8 years, Republican leaders have blocked every attempt to debate bipartisan immigration bills. They blocked Senate-passed comprehensive immigration reform. They blocked the bipartisan Dream Act, which has 203 cosponsors. Speaker Ryan has refused to consider the Dream Act, all while shedding crocodile tears over the 700,000 Dreamers for whom America is the only home they know. Instead, he has held the Dreamers hostage, used them as bargaining chips, used them as leverage to waste tens of billions of taxpayer dollars on a senseless wall and to militarize our southern border. Now, as our Nation is haunted by imagines of children being ripped from their parents' arms and by the sounds of their cries, Speaker Ryan decides this is the time to bring two of the most hateful, bigoted, anti-immigrant pieces of legislation I have ever seen to the House floor for debate under a closed process--no amendments, no committee hearings. This is a scandal, Mr. Speaker. Republicans should hide their faces in shame. It didn't have to be this way. If the bipartisan queen-of-the-hill discharge petition was allowed to move forward, we could be having a real debate on immigration.…”