Political Quotes

On the recordJuly 1, 2010
I cannot believe, in the wealthiest country that has ever existed on God's green Earth, that we are having a debate about whether or not we should let 1.3 million people-plus, over the course of the next few weeks, go without unemployment when unemployment's at 10 percent. There's five people looking for every one job, and we can't muster up the courage in this body to pass unemployment benefits? And our friends on the other side said, Well, this is not an emergency. So all of those folks, over the 4th of July, get your charcoal out, get your grill, go buy your hamburgers and hot dogs and lay them on the grill. Relax, put your flip flops on, put your shorts on, put the sun block on. There's no emergency here. That's what our friends on the other side are trying to tell the 1.3 million people who will go without anything. And if you think the deficit is bad now, wait till we get another wave of foreclosures, another wave of people who aren't paying their bills, another wave of bankruptcies. And our friends on the other side have consistently said no. We tried to get money from BP to pay for the oil spill; they said no. We took on the insurance companies; they said no. We took on Wall Street; they said no. We took on the banks; they said no. If you took the word ``no'' out of the dictionary, the Republican Party would be speechless.
Said by
Tim Ryan
Democratic · Ohio

Editor's note · Context

The speaker addresses the need for unemployment benefits amid high unemployment rates.

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