Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, we should not shut down the government of the United States. Democrats do not want government to shut down. It is, however, not in our hands. It takes a majority to pass any bill in this House: 218 votes. Our Republican colleagues have over 240 votes. We have 193. So it is not in our hands, Mr. Speaker. The Republican Party has been given the responsibility and the duty to enact legislation to ensure the proper functioning of government. As the governing party, they can pass whatever they want to pass on this floor. Indeed, as the governing party, they have a responsibility to use their votes to keep the government running. They control the House, they control the Senate, and they control the White House. All the levers of power of legislating are in their hands. But, we are here, Mr. Speaker, on the verge of a shutdown because of a familiar pattern where Republicans cannot unite as a party. They cannot agree among themselves on spending priorities. This has happened again and again and again. In fact, each time Congress has successfully enacted a funding bill since the majority took the majority in 2011, they had to have Democratic votes to pass that legislation every single time. When we passed the continuing resolution in September, just about 3 months ago, we did so because Republican leaders asked for more time to work on the priorities that confront this country and, responsibly, keeping government working.…”