Political Quotes

“I appreciate the majority leader's admonition, but the government was shut down because we wouldn't repeal the Affordable Care Act. In other words, the government was taken hostage because we wouldn't repeal the Affordable Care Act. We came very close, with 167 Republicans to do so, to shutting down the Department of Homeland Security. Now, Mr. McCarthy voted to keep it open, Speaker Boehner voted to keep it open, and Mr. Scalise voted to keep it open. But only 72 colleagues of theirs on the Republican side joined them. So I do not refer to Mr. McCarthy personally, but the strategy seems to be that we won't do something that everybody in this body ought to believe needs to be done, and that is to ensure that America remains a creditworthy nation, unless we do something that, frankly, I don't think, Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues have pursued too diligently; because over the last Congresses that they have been in charge, they put bills on this floor that have cut revenues by over half a trillion dollars without paying for it. Presumably my children, my grandchildren, and my great-grandchildren will have to pay that debt. So this is not about tradeoffs. This is about making sure that our Nation remains solvent, responsible, and creditworthy. And, indeed, because the rest of the world relies on the value and stability of the dollar to value its products, its currency, it will affect the whole world.…”