Steny Hoyer: “Mr. Speaker, if I could have one wish today, I would wish that hardworking Americans could take 5 minutes out of their…”

“Mr. Speaker, if I could have one wish today, I would wish that hardworking Americans could take 5 minutes out of their busy schedules and watch this ridiculous Republican charade occurring right now on this House floor. They would be outraged, as I am. The President has not signed even one of the 13 must-pass appropriation bills that fund everything from the Department of Defense to Federal spending on transportation, education and health care. Not one. This House has failed to consider, let alone pass, even one appropriations conference report. Not one. Yet, with just 11 days left in the current fiscal year, with eight appropriation bills still to be considered by this House, we are dithering on a blatantly political and utterly meaningless resolution on the permanent repeal of the estate tax. Does the GOP have an ideological predisposition to mismanage? Or has it been hijacked again by the faction that Newt Gingrich called, and I quote, 'the Perfectionist Caucus'? Those are Newt Gingrich's words, not mine. We have already passed a permanent repeal of the estate tax, a repeal that benefits, as my friend from Wisconsin has said, a few thousand wealthy families at the expense of millions, not once but twice. So why this resolution and why now? Here is why. Because the Republican leadership has made a commitment to put the Labor-HHS- Education spending bill on the floor next.…”