Tina Smith: “The Senator is exactly right in his description of the local pain and the bewilderment of many public employees who work…”

“The Senator is exactly right in his description of the local pain and the bewilderment of many public employees who work in the counties and need to make mortgage payments, want their kids educated, and would like their neighborhoods kept safe. They are getting pink slips as we speak. This act expired in September of last year. The money runs out in June. The last two vehicles you and I have to fix this is the CR or the emergency supplemental. My good friend, my senior colleague, is doing exactly what I was doing when I was in the majority, and that is meeting with chairmen, meeting with the leader, describing the intensity of the problem and the moral importance of this for the Federal Government to keep its word. It was an experience in great frustration. Now I am in the minority, and I am left to stall, throw wrenches in the works, make the moral case. I will continue to do that. You and I, as we have done since our earliest days in the Senate, will work in tandem because, when it comes to Oregon's interests, between Senator Wyden and myself, politics stop at the State border. This is a perfect example of it. We have two shots.”