On the recordApril 8, 2011
There have been a lot of quotes on this floor, so this one goes out to our young people and our seniors and our servicemembers and Federal workers who stand to be affected by a government shutdown. It's a lesson for my Republican colleagues courtesy of the White Stripes, a little ``Effect and Cause'': ``I guess you have to have a problem If you want to invent a contraption First you cause a train wreck Then you put me in traction. Well, first came an action And then a reaction But you can't switch around For your own satisfaction. You burnt my house down, then got mad At my reaction? It's that you just can't take the effect And make it the cause.'' So for my Republican colleagues who want to shut the government down for the effect you caused, you learn this White Stripes lesson first: ``If you're headin' to the grave You don't blame the hearse. You built a house of cards And got shocked when you saw them fall. You seem to forget Just how this song started. You just can't take the effect and make it the cause.'' ____________________
