Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise in qualified support of this tax cut agreement. I do so only after carefully weighing its positive elements against its severe flaws and with a realistic sense of the dire consequences should the measure fail. This conclusion says as much about the gamesmanship of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle--and, I'm afraid, about what we can expect in the next Congress--as it does about the contents of the legislation. No program or priority has been too sacred for House and Senate Republicans to hold hostage in their fervor to extend President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, regardless of how many hard-working families have had to suffer in the process. Programs that have always enjoyed strong bipartisan support--such as unemployment insurance and small business tax credits--have suddenly become ``Democratic'' priorities, fair game to be stonewalled by Republicans until they could squeeze every last concession out of this deal. The disconnect between what they say and what they do should be painfully obvious to the American people. How does their support for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires square with their stated priorities of balancing the budget and growing the economy? Spending $130 billion over the next 2 years alone on tax cuts for the richest 2 percent of Americans--without paying for a cent of it--is certainly a strange way to demonstrate their fiscal discipline.…”