Political Quotes

“let me first express my disappointment that we are not able to vote on the economic stimulus package. That package was reported out of the Senate Finance Committee last Wednesday. Each of us had plenty of opportunity to review the report from the Finance Committee and the provisions they added to the House package. For reasons I cannot understand, the Republican leadership is denying us the opportunity to act quickly on the package. One of the major criteria for the economic stimulus package is it must be timely. The House took it up, passed it. Now it is our turn. We are ready to act. We have the bipartisan recommendations from the Senate Finance Committee. Now it is time for us to take action. These are very difficult times. Let me review some of the most recent economic news. It is not good. The stock market is 11 percent lower than it was last October when it reached its peak. The price of oil has reached $100 a barrel. That is causing hardships for many families. Last month we saw job loss, an actual decline in employment for the first time in 4 years, a shrinking workforce. The President submitted his budget. He is showing the deficit, by his own numbers, increasing from $162 billion to $410 billion. That debt does not include the use of Social Security surpluses. It does not include such things as paying for the alternative minimum tax that we know we will have to deal with. We have tough economic times.”