Political Quotes

“once again, I think Washington, DC, has lost its mind. It is shameful that the minority party has engineered a government shutdown at the expense of our troops and their families, at the expense of our veterans, and at the expense of our children's healthcare. To me, this is politics at its very worst. Just like every American--the public that is out there--I am frustrated. I am frustrated that I have to come to the floor to talk about Congress once again failing the American public by not doing our jobs. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, time after time, Congress has blown past our deadline to complete all the current fiscal year appropriations and has punted on our responsibilities. Now, today, the government has been shut down. For years, I have been talking about how it is Congress's most basic responsibility to create a budget and pass all the appropriations bills on time. While some things in the Senate change, others just stay the same. While the majority has been working to restore normal budgeting practices, I am disappointed that my colleagues across the aisle have spent their time doing everything they can to avoid deadlines and choose routes of not working on appropriations bills and now have shut down this government. Not only is this disappointing, it is also not a surprise, given recent history. I have personally never seen Congress pass all 12 appropriations bills on time and on its own without an omnibus.…”