Political Quotes

“I thank the gentlewoman from Massachusetts for sharing those stories, which we are hearing throughout New England, and are so challenging and meaningful to all of us. We have heard tonight from all regions of the country: north, south, east, and west, and so many of the stories are the same. We heard from families affected by the fact that our Coast Guard personnel are not being paid, the only branch of the military that doesn't get paid. This is a hardship not only on them, but on their families as well who are home trying to make ends meet when they are off deployed; the TSA and the FAA, which we depend on every single day in our airports across the country for our safety, for our security; people who work in the Federal courts; people who are not working, but are government employees. They are not essential, so they are furloughed, but they can't go out and get another job in the middle of all of this. They just have to wait until it is all over to collect that back pay. There are so many contractors I hear from who can't continue with their contracts, because maybe they work with the Coast Guard or other Federal agencies, and they can't keep the funding going, and they can't give any certainty to when jobs will be completed or to their own employees. I have a couple of minutes left and I am going to read a long story, but it might just take up exactly the right amount of time.…”