Political Quotes

“I take this time to support what Senator Van Hollen has said. I am here with Senators Warner and Kaine. We have the honor of representing Maryland and Virginia in the Senate, where there are so many Federal workers. I want to underscore one point Senator Van Hollen made about the two bills that are on our calendar that passed the House. These are not Democratic bills; these are bipartisan bills. These are bills that passed this body just a few weeks ago by unanimous votes to keep government open as we continue to negotiate on border security. They deal with appropriations bills that passed our Appropriations Committees--in one case unanimously, and in one case, all but one Senator voted for it. So these are bipartisan bills that have been sent over to us from the House that have already cleared this body once. Now we can pass them, keep government open for most of the agencies, and in the case of Homeland Security, a continuing resolution. This shutdown caused by President Trump is a disaster. It is hurting people. In this morning's Sun paper, there was an article about an important economic development project in Baltimore City on the east side that cannot move forward because HUD can't process the paperwork so it can go forward. We are getting hurt every day. Senator Van Hollen mentioned the 800,000 Federal workers. About half are being asked to show up and work every day without a paycheck.…”