Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman. I would reiterate what he and I both stated last week, which is that, clearly, this is not a bailout. There is no money contemplated that is going to Puerto Rico, and there is no extension of U.S. credit backing from the United States to Puerto Rico. What it is, as the gentleman knows, is just setting up a process for a restructuring of debt that everyone knows cannot be paid, and there needs to be some sort of rational way that Puerto Rico can work itself to both repay that which it can repay while, at the same time, maintain the absolutely essential services of education, health care, and public safety for the American citizens who live in Puerto Rico. So I would hope that we would continue to work on that. Again, the majority leader's staff and my staff, Treasury, and Mr. Bishop's staff, the leader's staff and Mr. Ryan's staff all have been working towards that end, and I appreciate that. But I think we all feel a sense of urgency. Even if we could work it out over the weekend or before we end next week, if we could bring it to the floor next week, if we had an agreement, I think that would be a good thing for us to do. I don't know whether it is possible--I hope it is possible--but I look forward to working with the majority leader towards that end. There are two other items, as you know, that I have mentioned in the past. Zika. There was a very compelling editorial in The Washington Post today about Zika.…”