Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank my very good friend and our leader from California for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill. So this is the last day we are in session until after the elections. But rather than consider substantive legislation today--or really at any point in this session--that would have extended long-term unemployment benefits, or simplify the Tax Code, or reform our immigration system, or extend expiring tax provisions, or lower foreign trade barriers with new trade authority, or invest in our Nation's deteriorating public infrastructure, we are going home. Mr. Speaker, the list goes on and on of what we could and should be doing. But we are wasting what limited floor time remains debating a compilation of bad anti-environmental legislative proposals that this Chamber has already passed. These bills will not be considered by the Senate, and they are bills that the President has already expressed his intention of vetoing if they were to get through the Senate. It is disappointing, but it is not surprising. With the vote on this bill, this Chamber will have voted 218 times just this session to weaken existing laws that protect our health and our environment; 58 times this session we voted to block action on climate change; 43 times to weaken the Clean Air Act; and 75 times to weaken the Clean Water Act. Mr. Speaker, more oil is being produced now during the Obama administration than at any point in the previous 25 years.…”