Political Quotes

“I will just say that I am stunned that colleagues are saying that American workers are out trying to scam the system and really don't want to work and all of these things that I think suggest a very different picture than what I hear from workers and, by the way, what I hear from my friend from Ohio when he is in the Finance Committee. I have a final point. The Republicans knew the cliff was coming in May when the House passed the Heroes Act. They knew the cliff was coming in June. I am just going to walk this through because I heard: Oh my goodness, all of the Democrats are involved in pushing workers off the cliff. The Republicans knew the cliff was coming in May. That is when the House passed their bill. They knew the cliff was coming a few weeks after that when Senator Schumer and I introduced and tried to get passed a piece of legislation that was really based, I say to my friend from Ohio--and something I heard our friend from South Dakota, Senator Thune, talk about--Senator Thune said: You know, I get it. When folks are hurting, the benefits have to be used to pay the rent and buy groceries. But when unemployment goes down, the benefit should taper down. That is essentially what the Democratic leader, Senator Schumer, and I offered--to tie unemployment insurance to the realities of what is on the ground in the American economy. Republicans knew the cliff was coming in May.…”