Political Quotes

“I remind my friends on the other side of the aisle that supposedly we are in the 5th year of a recovery and that we have extended these extraordinary benefits for 5 years at the cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. Now, the Speaker has indicated that if our friends, either the administration, our friends on the other side of the aisle, or our friends in the Senate have an idea how to pay for this extension, he would give it due consideration. So far, it doesn't appear that such an idea has been forthcoming. With that, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, let me just remind my colleagues that Republican President George Bush extended unemployment benefits on a number of occasions, never paid for it; and I don't recall my friends on the other side of the aisle raising a big to-do over that. But the bottom line is to simply say that, well, we have extended it multiple times, so tough luck to these people who are still struggling in this difficult economy is unacceptable. How can we do that? We are here to represent these people and to make sure that they have enough to get through these difficult times until the economy gets better so they can get a job. This should not be controversial. This shouldn't be a big deal. I am stunned that extending unemployment insurance to the unemployed in this country is a controversial issue. Only in this Republican-led House of Representatives are our priorities all messed up.…”