Political Quotes

“I thank the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey for walking us through some of the episodes that the American people have been subjected to as a result of the extreme behavior that has been articulated and enacted, in fact, as part of the agenda put forth by the majority over the last two terms. It is time, Mr. Speaker, to end the irresponsibility, end the recklessness, end the extremism, and end the brinksmanship so we can get back to doing the business of the American people with a fiscally responsible, sustainable course; but one that recognizes that here in this Congress, time and time again we have inflicted wounds on the economy and on the American people. We did it last spring in advance of sequestration taking effect. We were warned by independent economists that if you allow sequestration to take effect, $85 billion in random cuts spread out without reason across the economy, it would cost us approximately 750,000 jobs, but yet it happened. Then we were warned that it would be problematic if you allowed the government to shut down. Nonetheless, some people couldn't help the recklessness, the irresponsibility, the extremism, and so the government was shut down for 16 days. Standard & Poor's estimated that it cost us $24 billion in lost economic productivity. Yet here we are again, a Yogi Berra moment, deja vu all over again, confronting an unnecessary, manufactured crisis.…”