Political Quotes

“we are facing a deadline this week-- October 1. Every family in America knows about deadlines: April 15, you had better get your taxes in. A deadline is coming for shopping for Christmas, for Hanukkah. We are faced with many deadlines. October 1 is another deadline; that is our fiscal year. If Congress does nothing else during the course of a session, we are supposed to pass spending bills so when the fiscal year starts, the agencies know how much money they have and can go about the business of conducting their affairs and managing the Government. Now, I will have to be honest with you; in the 17 years I have been on Capitol Hill, in the House and Senate, rarely, if ever, has any party in control of the Senate or the House really met that deadline, had everything in place by October 1. Sometimes it takes a little extra time to put it together. But I would have to tell you that in my experience on the Hill, I can never recall a time when we reached October 1, as we will this week, with such chaos. There appears to be no plan in place, no conversation between the leaders on Capitol Hill and the White House, and we will be asked today to vote on what is called a continuing resolution; that is, an extension of about 3 weeks so we can continue the business of Government while the leaders of the House and Senate get down to the business of leading.”