Political Quotes

“Let me say at the outset, we ought to both put sanctimony aside. Both sides are accusing one another of closing down the government. Mr. Speaker, you voted to close down the government, and then you voted against opening it up. Both sides have accused the other of doing what they have done. Now, the fact of the matter is, Mr. Speaker, we are here because we have not succeeded in passing the appropriations bills and sending them to the President. That is why we need a continuing resolution. My Republican friends are in charge of the House. My Republican friends are in charge of the Senate, and they are in charge of the White House. We have not passed a single appropriations bill. My view is, we have not done so because we have been unwilling to compromise. That is what this is about. It is about Republicans, frankly, being unwilling, in our opinion, to work together to get to agreement. We don't want this shutdown. Our Republican friends say they don't want the shutdown, and we have said from the beginning that we are ready to work across the aisle to prevent it. In fact, the Republicans have had four opportunities. One hundred percent of the Democrats voted for a 90-day CR to give us time to get to agreement on appropriations bills and a level of funding. Mr. Speaker, you know that. We have been talking about that for some time. We have not come to agreement. Therefore, we find ourselves here, notwithstanding the fact that we agree on a lot.…”