Kathy Castor: “I rushed down to the floor because I just read a headline that said that the Republicans are not headed to negotiations…”

“I rushed down to the floor because I just read a headline that said that the Republicans are not headed to negotiations today. In fact, all of the Republicans have quit here on a Thursday morning and have left town. Meanwhile, back home in Tampa, I know that one of my neighbors is expecting their Social Security check at the end of next week, and that is at risk. I have another neighbor in St. Petersburg on a fixed income watching their retirement savings, expecting machinations in the market and worrying about the ability to pay rent. Republicans have left Americans wondering: Why do you want to inflict job losses? Why do you want to risk a recession? Meanwhile, Democrats are here because we want to avoid those kinds of things. We want to avoid job losses, avoid falling into a recession, avoid harm to veterans, avoid harm to our neighbors, higher costs, harm to our small business owners. Enough of this manufactured MAGA crisis. We have to put people over politics for a change and stop this careening from one crisis to another, with chaos inflicted by the GOP. Put people over politics. Get back to work. Let's fix this for the people we represent. ____________________”