Political Quotes

“This is going to be one of the most pivotal weeks in the history of American public broadcasting. As early as tomorrow, we will be voting on a continuing resolution that would call for the elimination of all Federal government support for public broadcasting. Now, I will admit, this is very personal to me. If this reckless act were to be taken, it would mean that my local award-winning public broadcasting station, Oregon Public Broadcasting, would lose $2.4 million annually, funds that we use to invest serving Oregon and southwest Washington and a little bit of Idaho with programs that keep people informed, inspired, that help educate our youngest citizens. Actually, through the magic of Internet, people enjoy programming online across America because of the quality of Oregon Public Broadcasting. Now, there's no question, as some of my colleagues were just discussing on the floor, that there is hard budget work ahead of us. I look forward to opportunities to eliminate unnecessary agricultural supports and rebalance those efforts. I look forward to dealing with helping rein in spiraling Medicare costs. Not eliminating health care reform, but accelerating opportunities to reform it and make it more efficient. I look forward to looking at the largest area of expenditure dealing with the Defense Department and discretionary funding. Without question, there are a number of areas there, the American people know and understand, that can be adjusted.”