Political Quotes

“I thank my friend. Mr. Speaker, what's before us is before us. What's before us is a rule, not the MilCon bill, not Homeland Security. What's before us is the bill. And what does the bill do? It doesn't have an open process. It doesn't allow us an amendment. Mr. Van Hollen wanted to have an amendment and say let's go to conference on the budget; let's decide what these numbers ought to be. No, it's our way or the highway. You've passed a budget. You're going to stick with those numbers. They won't work. You know they won't work. That's why you don't go to conference, because Mr. Ryan knows he couldn't make a deal that he could bring back to this House and your side would vote for, I tell my friend on the Rules Committee. So what's before us is before us, a ratification of sequester, which starts with ``S,'' which stands for ``stupid.'' It is a terrible process. It is an irrational, commonsense-defying process. And yet my Republican friends continue to demand that we mark to figures that were contrary to the understanding, agreement--deal, if you want--that we made. In August of 2011, we made a deal and we said these are going to be the numbers, and the ink was not dry on the paper until such time as you violated that agreement. And the Ryan budget violates it once again and is $91 billion, almost 9 percent, less than the deal we made. What's before us is before us, the gentleman says. What's before us is the rule to ratify the sequester.…”