Sam Gibbons: “over the weekend I had the great pleasure of spending time with some of my constituents to let them know about our…”

“over the weekend I had the great pleasure of spending time with some of my constituents to let them know about our future agenda in the Republican Party. We discussed future surpluses in our Federal budget, we discussed the recently passed tax cuts targeting working, middle-class income American families. We discussed the benefits of the recently passed Patient Protection Act that makes health care more accessible, accountable and affordable. But then I got back to Washington and read in yesterday's Roll Call newspaper that Democrats do not even have an agenda. As a matter of fact, the argument cited a Democratic source who said that their party, quote, ``needs something to campaign on, and if the President doesn't use his veto pen, we (the Democrats) are in trouble.'' Actually maybe I am reading this wrong. Perhaps the Democrats do have an agenda, an agenda to shut down the government. While this Republican-led Congress has delivered on its promises to balance the budget, provide meaningful tax cuts and to save Social Security, my liberal colleagues have no better agenda than to shut the government down.”