Political Quotes

“In closing, I cannot emphasize strongly enough how unnecessary, damaging, and constitutionally defective this legislation is. You know, as Ms. Jackson Lee was speaking, Mr. Chairman, I could not help but think about a young lady that I met at NIH a few years ago when the government was shut down. I was talking to her, and I was asking her about her job. And one of the things she said was that she was very, very upset. And I said: ``Well, are you upset that you are going to possibly lose money? Or are you upset that you are going to have problems?'' She said: ``No, I am not so upset about losing my job because I can always find a job.'' She said: ``The thing I am upset about is that if the government shuts down, that means that there are all kinds of research that is going to be stopped and we won't be able to see the breakthroughs that I thought we would be able to see.'' My point is that there are so many Federal employees, just like the ones who work for us, who come to work every day and they have dedicated their lives to giving to the public. In other words, it is about the business of feeding their souls. So often what happens, I have noticed, is we have a way of not treating them right all the time. And I have been a fierce defender of the public employee and the Federal employee because I realize that they are the backbone of this Nation.…”