Political Quotes

“Madam President, Senator Schumer yesterday on the floor talked about what the House is doing, and he described it as ``Alice in Wonderland.'' I don't know if that is an apt description. Maybe it is beyond that. Here is where we are. The House has passed a bill to pay furloughed Federal employees--now, listen to this--once the government opens. Well, why wouldn't we do that? But the problem is that this uncontroversial legislation is kind of unique, isn't it? So now what the Republicans in the House are telling--because they are the ones who set the agenda--they are telling all these Federal workers: What we are going to do for you now--even though we don't like Federal workers and we haven't given you a raise in 3 years--what we are going to do now is give you a paid vacation. That is what it is. These people who want to go to work can't go to work, but they are going to get paid, they know, when they leave here, and we knew that anyway. We heard today that a number of Federal employees are applying for unemployment benefits. So it is really cruel to tell workers they will receive backpay once the government opens and then refuse to open the government. Let's open the government. Hundreds of thousands of furloughed Federal servants want to work. They should be allowed to work.…”