Political Quotes

“I have been here 17 years. I was not going to speak on this issue, but as I sat in my office I heard speaker after speaker mention the word ``firefighter.'' Now, I came to the Congress as a firefighter, and I spent the first part of my career when the other side had control of this body fighting on behalf of firefighters. It was not the other side who delivered a program for grants for fire departments in America, although we had bipartisan support, it was when we controlled the Congress that we passed the Assistance to Firefighter Grant Program, which this year is providing $750 million for fire departments across the country. And it was not during the control of the other side, despite the rhetoric that we have heard out of the leadership on that side, and will hear later on, that we do not care about firefighters. It was not the other side when they controlled the Congress that started a grant program to hire more firefighters, but when the defense bill passes next week on the floor of the House, the conference report, there will be a $7.6 billion program for firefighters. That was done under Republican control of the Congress. So when my colleagues stand up and say we are hurting firefighters, cut me a break. In my 17 years here, we have worked in a bipartisan way for firefighters, and for them to come to the floor today and say that somehow this is meant to gut them is an absolute lie.”