Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for yielding. Madam Chair, this bill, and the other two House bills we will consider this week, were put forward, in my opinion, to fill time. Yes, they are unifying issues on the Republican side of the aisle, Madam Chair, but they are not pressing. Even if they were good policy, they are not pressing. We stand here without a budget. We stand here with 10 days left to go. Madam Chair, it is now quarter of 3:00, and it was about 2:30, and our business is through for today. No budget, no unemployment insurance extension, no farm bill, no conference report even on the budget, no immigration bill, no ending discrimination, ENDA, bill--a raft of critically important issues that this House ought to be considering. So this is somewhat the fiddle on which we are playing while Rome is burning. We shut down the government for 16 days, for the first time in 17 years, a conscious decision to shut down government, and 147 of my Republican colleagues, Madam Chair, voted to keep the government shut down and voted against paying our bills. Yet, we consider this legislation. Now, I am against this legislation substantively, but even more egregious is the wasting of 4 of the 12 days we had available to address the issues I have just discussed. America is rightfully disgusted with the Congress of the United States. Me too. Energy security remains an important issue. I agree with my colleagues on that.…”