Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this poorly conceived, politically charged, and economically disastrous Continuing Resolution before us. With a few hours left for legislative work before the end of the fiscal year, not one of the twelve funding bills required to keep the government open has been enacted into law. In fact, a number of bills have never even been brought before the Appropriations Committee for debate. Even the initial short-term continuing resolution had to be pulled from the floor because of Republican infighting. My colleagues, the appropriations process--that hallmark of Congress's constitutional authority and wellspring of our power to conduct oversight and set national priorities--is on life support and in danger of total collapse. Unfortunately, this bill is yet another example of the complete abdication of our Committee's constitutional responsibility, as we have allowed fringe members of this body to craft a bill that stands no chance of becoming law. Let me repeat that in case there is any confusion--the bill before us now has absolutely no chance of being enacted--zero. Therefore, the only reasonable conclusion to draw is that the Republican majority is intent on once again taking us to the brink of shutdown--this time because of the zealot-like opposition in their ranks to improving health care access for millions of Americans.…”