Political Quotes

“something terribly wrong has happened in the House of Representatives. I am not talking about, from a partisan standpoint, the Republican takeover in 1995, I am not even talking about the ascension of Newt Gingrich to the Speakership. What I am talking about is the ascension of a new kind of House leaders who have run this institution even as former Speaker Gingrich has said, not in the fairest possible way, basically in an unprecedented way. We have seen things in the House of Representatives in the last couple of years that we have literally never seen. I want to tell a story and spell out what I mean by this one example. Beginning a couple of years ago, at 2:54 a.m. on a Friday in March, the House of Representatives cut veterans' benefits by three votes. At 2:39 a.m. on a Friday in April, the House slashed education and health care 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 passed the first round of the Medicare privatization bill by one vote. At 12:57 a.m. on a Friday in July, the House eviscerated Head Start by one vote. After returning from summer recess, at 12:12 a.m. on a Friday in October, the House voted $87 billion for Iraq.”