Political Quotes

“I yield myself 2 minutes. It's interesting to watch my friend's attempt to reframe the issue away from proposals that they have offered and the inartful budgetary fiscal activities of this last year. It was, after all, a Republican choice to halt the operation of the other body, essentially shutting down the Senate, by requiring supermajorities on everything. We started the year with the threat of government shutdown. You recall we went to just minutes away from having to shut down the Federal Government over a basically theological argument on the part of my friends on the other side of the aisle over things like Planned Parenthood and Big Bird. Then this summer we had cast doubt for the first time in history about whether we were actually going to honor the requirement to pay the debt for obligations we'd already incurred. This summer the Republicans were willing to leave town, and we actually shot the hostage when it came to the FAA: 70,000 people were idled on construction projects for aviation; 4,000 employees laid off. Then this fall and into the winter, we had the spectacle of what should be a relatively routine effort, and has been a routine effort for Republicans and Democrats alike, dealing with things like the extension of unemployment insurance and avoiding a draconian impact with the sustainable growth rate, the SGR, the doc fix.…”