Political Quotes

“I thank the majority leader for yielding, and I share his view that we ought to keep the government running for not only the sake of our economy, but for the sake of all those that rely on the Federal Government. My friend has made the observation in the past that shutting down the government, and I believe the Speaker has made the same observation, was not a rational policy for us to pursue. I ask the gentleman, because I believe that the resolution that we will be considering will not either pass the Senate nor be signed by the President, in light of that, and in light of the fact that the majority leader of the Senate and the Speaker have both indicated that negotiations are ongoing, would the gentleman agree to a unanimous consent, as we have done so often in the past when the majority Democrats that were in control of the House and the Senate disagreed with President Bush, that we would have a hold-in-place unanimous consent continuing resolution, not changing the status on either side of the negotiations, for 7 days, which would give the parties the opportunity to come to an agreement. My understanding from the leader of the Senate is that we have agreed to some $70 billion in cuts, which is a substantial way towards what you wanted and a show that we share the view that we need to have fiscal restraint.…”