Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to close by again thanking colleagues on both sides of the aisle for the good work done on the underlying bill, our bipartisan, bicameral negotiated agreement on Homeland Security. It is really a shame that we are faced here today with an amendment that has the potential to wreck this good bill and to damage the Homeland Security Department so badly. Now, I don't say that lightly. I think Members know I don't interject terms like ``poison pill'' into debates lightly; but, believe me, that term applies to the amendment we are now considering. This amendment caters to every whim of the most extreme elements of the Republican Conference. It doesn't just roll back the President's recent executive action--which, by the way, is thoroughly grounded in law and precedent. It goes beyond that. It rolls back in its entirety the progress that has been made over many years on prioritizing dangerous criminals for deportation and bringing common sense to our deportation policy. In pursuing this political vendetta, Republicans are putting at risk a full-year funding bill, worked out months ago, for the Department of Homeland Security, and they are doing that at a time of heightened alert. Mr. Chairman, this is an egregious abuse, probably the worst I have ever seen, of the appropriations process.…”