Melanie Stansbury: “Free D.C. To my colleagues across the aisle, I appreciate the debate, but I have to say I thought we were going to try…”

“Free D.C. To my colleagues across the aisle, I appreciate the debate, but I have to say I thought we were going to try to fix healthcare, to address costs, try to fix the economy, and get the country back on track. Isn't that what the promise at the end of the shutdown was when we came back into session? Yet, here we are, 1 week after the end of the shutdown, after a truly harrowing several days dealing with the Epstein petition, and what are you guys putting on the floor to eat up precious floor time as we are headed into the holidays? We are debating bills to micromanage D.C. affairs, bills to open public land and Tribal sacred sites to oil and gas drilling, and a ridiculous political resolution that I heard your own Members last night on the floor talking about. They called it stupid and kind of crazy. Those are their words, not mine, but I don't disagree, so don't get me wrong. After 54 days of the House of Representatives being shut down, all you guys really seem to have time to do is run bills like this? What I find particularly offensive is that in a week that we should be working to address the healthcare crisis in a bipartisan manner, you are trying to pass bills today that would undo local police reforms that our Nation's Capital put into place after George Floyd's murder to ensure that the people of this city are safe and that the justice system is fair for them.”