Political Quotes

“I come today to specifically talk about children's health care, but I think it is important to respond to what was said as it relates to the budget process and adopting a budget by October 1. We have never met the October 1 deadline--never. In fact, I am not sure I remember having done it in the House when I was there for 4 years, either. We all know it is a nice political argument to make on the floor of the Senate, but it has no credibility because the reality is the October 1 deadline is something that is difficult to meet and we usually work through the fall on the budget. What I think is significant, though, is the fact that if we are going to hold to that test as the test of responsible leadership, 6 of the last 7 years the Republican majority was in charge and 6 times they did not meet an October 1 deadline. In fact, last year, they never got a budget passed at all--at all.”