Tim Ryan: “I appreciate that. That is the distinction that we need to make here. The Republican Party controls all the levels of…”

“I appreciate that. That is the distinction that we need to make here. The Republican Party controls all the levels of government, the committees, the House, the Senate, the White House. What they say goes. We are an opposition party at this point, and they are the governing party. They are taking the country off the cliff is basically what is happening here. The point I want to make to my friends in the 30-Something Group and to the Members who are watching and the American people is this. When this body was originally trying to figure out a way to pay for Katrina, all those pictures that you show, when they were originally trying to figure out a way to pay for this, you know what came up? Across-the- board cuts in all programs, 2 percent, in order to pay for this, across the board. Then, when the extreme right wing Republicans in the caucus came over and those corporate interests here in Washington, D.C., came over to the Hill and they started exerting their influence here, it changed because we cannot cut programs that the big-time lobbyists want. That would be wrong in Washington, D.C. Notice what is being cut, notice. Look at the list: Medicaid, Head Start, college loans. There is not a program that is getting cut where the people can actually donate money to Congress. We cannot cut programs where people have to donate and they make big profits. Is that not a coincidence?…”