Political Quotes

“I want to thank my colleague and Democratic leader Senator Schumer for making clear what is going to happen on the floor of the Senate this afternoon. We have a chance, an opportunity when 100 Senators come to the floor, to put an end to the government shutdown this afternoon. I want to tell you, there is nothing more important than that, as far as I am concerned. I hope we will rise to that occasion and rise to that challenge. During the last 2 days, what I have done is travel across my home State of Illinois and sit down and meet on an informal basis with Federal employees who are going through this government shutdown. In the last couple of weeks I have been to Peoria, Pekin, Aurora, Marion, and I went to St. Louis, though it is clearly not in Illinois, to meet with air traffic controllers who live in my State. I sat down and asked them tell me the stories, to tell me what has happened in the 34 days when they haven't been paid--34 days, as of today. They were a little embarrassed and a little reluctant to talk about what it meant. Eventually, I said ``Well, tell me about some of your coworkers,'' which is usually a way that people can tell their own stories without embarrassment. I heard some stories that are breaking my heart as I stand here at this moment. Have you ever been in an air traffic control tower? It is amazing. I have seen some of the biggest. We had one up in Elgin, IL, which takes care of O'Hare and Midway and all of our great airports.…”