Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague from Alaska for her leadership today; my colleague from Maine, who just spoke; my colleague from Maryland; and all of my colleagues on the floor. By the way, there are several Republicans who came up to me over the last hour and asked: May I speak in this colloquy? We didn't have time for all of them, but that is a good sign. It shows that there are a lot of Members--16 here on the floor and many others--who believe it is time for us to figure this out. No one likes a government shutdown. I have put out a bill five times now to the Congress to end government shutdowns. By the way, it is getting a few more cosponsors now, and it should because this situation doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense for the families who are affected, including those who are going to work without pay and are living paycheck to paycheck. This is true hardship. It doesn't make sense for the taxpayers, who never end up winning in these government shutdowns but whom we end up paying after the fact--often, for government services that were never provided--because that is how shutdowns work. Finally, it is bad for the economy. If we go another few weeks, there will be one point off our GDP, which will be a huge deal for wages and jobs and economic growth. So let's get this thing behind us. There is a serious issue here, which is, How do we secure the border? Our southern border is a mess.…”