Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, and I thank the gentleman for yielding time to me. Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge support for H.J. Res. 123, the short-term continuing resolution. I want to begin my remarks by, frankly, congratulating the chairman. It is his leadership, and my good friend on the other side, they have put together the bill in April that actually is funding the government today. A majority of Democrats voted for that in the House and the Senate. A majority of Republicans voted for it. The President signed it. Under the chairman's leadership, all 12 bills passed well before the deadline that fund the government of September 30. He has been prepared to negotiate for 80 days. He hasn't been sitting around in those 80 days. He also passed two disaster relief bills and is working on a third one right now. I think you probably have the hardest working chairman and committee in Congress. The rest of the government, the Senate in particular, needs to catch up with us. Now, to their credit, they are actually sitting down with the President today, and we are beginning to see some progress. We need this additional time to allow us to fund the government. To my friends who oppose it, what is your alternative? Shutting down the government? I know they don't want to do that. They have always argued against it. I have always thought they were right when they argued against it, but if we follow their advice and reject this amendment, the government will shut down on Friday.…”