Political Quotes

“I rise because I want to share a few words on the Zika component of the conference report on the MILCON-VA appropriations bill, which will be on the floor shortly. Unfortunately, but maybe not surprisingly, my friends on the other side of the aisle very well bowed down to their friends on the hard right and riddled this bill on Zika with poison pill provisions. If there was ever a bill designed to fail, it is what the Republicans have put together on Zika today. This bill is not only going to fail, it was designed to fail from the very beginning. Democrats have pushed for over 4 months for legislation on Zika, ever since the CDC and the administration requested $1.9 billion in emergency funding to deal with the threat. We tried to work with our friends on the other side of the aisle, but after we compromised at $1.1 billion, after we reached a supposed agreement, and passed it in this body with 89 votes--the overwhelming majority from both parties-- Republicans turned around, without any consultation with Democrats in the House and Senate, and rammed through a wish list of poison pill riders that defeat the very purpose of the effort. Rather than working with Democrats to produce something both parties can support, Republicans abandoned compromise in favor of an extreme rightwing bill. These changes reflected in the conference report have poisoned the bill. It now cuts Ebola funding by $107 million. It cuts funding for the Affordable Care Act by $543 million.…”