Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for his hard work. I would remind the previous speaker that this is actually a Republican-led discharge petition for Ex-Im Bank. We could have avoided this. None of us celebrate being here right now as Republicans. But the time to deal with the issue of Ex-Im Bank was on the committee. Unfortunately, this could have gone through the committee, this could have been voted on in committee, and it could have come to the floor in what people would consider a more regular order way than this. However, that didn't have the opportunity. Mr. Speaker, my district is the 16th District of Illinois, and I will tell you what, they are not worried about discharge petitions and things when people talk about regular order and internal politics and what is going on here. What they care about is the fact that it is a heavy manufacturing district, and they want to be able to go to work tomorrow. They are worried because people live with the threat of pink slips, and many people actually get pink slips. Unfortunately, in July, the charter for Ex-Im Bank expired, which put a lot of the manufacturing suppliers of the aerospace industry at a disadvantage in my district compared with those that supply to Airbus and other companies around the world. Pride in our exports and pride in our manufacturing is something that we should have pride in, and we should fight beyond what it means for a party label or beyond what it means for floor politics. Mr.…”