Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, when the Republicans refer to President Obama's sequestration, they must think that no one in the country remembers the events of the last 2 years. Remember that 2 years ago, the Republicans blackmailed the entire country by saying that they would not permit the debt ceiling to be increased and they would force the country to default on its debts--and in fact destroy the economy-- unless we cut the budget by $2.4 trillion. We cut it by $1.2 trillion. But no one could figure out, no one could agree how to cut another $1.2 trillion, so both parties put in the sequester to kick the can down the road on this entirely artificial demand for an extra $1.2 trillion in cuts. That's why we're here now facing an economic catastrophe--because of the blackmail of an even worse catastrophe of failing to pay our bills, of calling into question the full faith and credit of the United States. That's what got us to this point. The only way to get us out is either to just repeal the entire sequester entirely--because we've made enough budget cuts--or to say, all right, we'll do half the budget, half the $1.2 trillion in cuts, and half by adopting loophole-closing measures that the Republicans themselves supported last year. ____________________”