Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, there is a blizzard of evidence against this continuing resolution; yet the Republican majority keeps skidding ahead like an out-of-control snowplow. Instead of avoiding sequestration with a balanced deficit reduction package, this CR will lock in these devastating cuts--impairing vital government functions, reducing the paychecks of thousands of American workers, and undermining our economic recovery. The CBO says it will cost three-quarters of a million jobs. Earlier this week, Mr. Speaker, I heard a panel of economists speculate about what future historians some 20 or 30 years from now, will say about what we're going through. They're likely to be baffled: How could a great Nation do such damage to itself? How could political brinksmanship and rigid ideology go so far? In fact, that's exactly what my constituents are already asking as they begin to pay the price for this House's failure to do what we were elected to do. Just yesterday, members of the Military Construction and Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee heard testimony from senior officers of each service about the impact of sequestration on their operations. Their message was: don't be fooled. We may be giving them marginally greater flexibility by including the full-year 2013 bills for defense and veterans in this continuing resolution, but we are not sparing them from the sledgehammer of sequestration. This approach also begs the question: Why not pass full-year bills for all departments?…”