Political Quotes

“once again I wish to thank Senator Boxer for her comments and for her strength in coming to the floor and pointing out the danger and harm caused by the government shutdown and the risk of defaulting on our debt. Let me make it clear: Open government. Keep it open at the level the Republicans had in their budget as we continue to negotiate. We want to negotiate a budget for fiscal year 2014. We want that budget to be fair. We have been trying to do that for 7 months. We are not going to negotiate a budget in the next 48 hours. It is going to take more time than that. We need to extend the ability to pay our bills. That should be done for a long time--for a longer period of time--because of the predictability here. We don't want to go from crisis to crisis. There should be no concessions for either one of those two issues; that is, opening government or paying our bills. Let's work back and forth, Democrats and Republicans, on a budget in which there will be give and take. That is what we are encouraging our colleagues to do. I join Senator Boxer in hoping there is a productive meeting at the White House today.…”