Political Quotes

“I thank Senator Murray, the lead sponsor for this legislation. Oregon and Washington are really ground zero as far as the economic hurt in this country, and I thank her for all of her leadership and support. I will take only a few minutes tonight because I know we have had a number of speakers on this topic, but I think it is time to put a human face on this issue and try to make sure that people really understand what is at stake. In Eugene, OR, where I went to school, parents have recently been selling their own blood plasma--that's right, their own blood plasma-- to pay for a math teacher's salary for one more year because the school district has been unable to come up with the cash to pay for a math teacher. I think that really says it all. As Senator Murray and other colleagues talked about, we are not talking about luxuries. We are not talking about something that would be frivolous or on somebody's wish list. We are talking about the most essential services in our society, making sure that kids get a good start, and decent health care. What it has come to in my State, which is in its third year now of financial meltdown, is we have parents actually going out and selling blood. Something is really out of whack in this country when somehow the Congress is going to find ways to come up with billions of dollars to rebuild Iraq, but the Congress of the United States will not come up with the dollars that are needed to rebuild the States.”