Political Quotes

“There's no more important agenda item currently facing Congress than ensuring America pays its bills and honors its obligations. The accumulated choices of Congresses and administrations, past and present, have created the debt and the need to honor the obligations--like an unfunded war in Iraq that's going to cost trillions of dollars, or an unfunded Medicare prescription drug program both from our Republican friends. We're not going to default on our debt. With over a hundred of my colleagues, I signed a letter calling for a clean extension and offering to work with the Republican leadership so they wouldn't be held hostage to the most extreme members of their party in order to push through draconian proposals that have no chance of being passed, which would unsettle the markets and do damage to things that Americans care about, like the reckless proposal for ending the Medicaid guarantee to seniors and additional tax cuts that are unaffordable. Unfortunately, the Republican leadership decided not to treat this seriously. They're bringing a bill to the floor which they're not supporting. They put it on the suspension calendar so it had no chance of passage, and they think somehow this is constructive. Well, it's not. Mr. Speaker, it's time for us to be serious, to avoid taking legislative hostages. Maybe the Chamber of Commerce thinks that Wall Street is in on the joke that is represented by their legislative ploy here today, but I'm not certain the American public is.…”