Political Quotes

“Mr. President, in just a few minutes, because it is very late or very early, if one might characterize the hour of the morning, I will be offering a unanimous consent request to pass Calendar No. 527, H.R. 5456, the Family First Prevention Services Act. Just to give a short description of this bill, there has been an enormous amount of bipartisan effort and good will to enact this legislation that many policy experts consider the most significant improvement in child welfare policy in decades. In the other body, the legislation passed unanimously, and there was superb work done by Chairman Brady, the Speaker, Congressman Ryan, Vern Buchanan. There was a whole host of colleagues on the Democratic side, Sandy Levin, Lloyd Doggett, and Leader Pelosi, a whole host of Members and enormous effort. You had the leadership, the Ways and Means Committee. They came together and passed the legislation unanimously. The reason they did is, 500 organizations, groups representing children and pediatricians and the Catholic bishops, the Children's Defense Fund, all came together. They said the current policy today with respect to vulnerable children just defies common sense. In effect, you cannot get help to the families when it really is most critical.…”