Political Quotes

“this is the people's House, conducting the public's business openly, or at least it used to be the people's House. At 2:54 a.m. on a Friday in March, the House cut veterans benefits by three votes. At 2:39 a.m. on a Friday in April, House Republicans slashed education and health benefits by five votes. At 1:56 a.m. on a Friday in May, the House passed the Leave No Millionaire Behind tax cut bill by a handful of votes. At 2:33 a.m. on a Friday in June, the House GOP passed a Medicare privatization and prescription drug bill by one vote. At 12:57 a.m. on a Friday in July, the House eviscerated Head Start by one vote. And then after returning from summer recess at 12:12 a.m. on a Friday in October, the House voted $87 billion for Iraq. Always in the middle of the night, always after the press had passed their deadlines, always after the American people had turned off the news and gone to bed. With that track record, Mr. Speaker, we should not be terribly surprised that when the House passed legislation privatizing Medicare and forcing the most sweeping changes to Medicare in its 38-year history, we should not be terribly surprised that this Republican House of Representatives passed that bill at 5:55 in the early morning, Saturday morning, hours. The Republican leadership delivered this 1,100-page Medicare bill to House Members on Friday morning at 1:46 a.m. We voted on it 25 hours later. But I do not really blame my Republican colleagues.…”