Political Quotes

“I rise to oppose this partisan rescissions bill because it represents a complete surrender of Congress's power of the purse--one of the singular responsibilities under the U.S. Constitution. It will hurt America's standing in the world also. Finally and tragically, it will cost lives. We are considering this package at a time when the Trump administration has frozen congressionally enacted funds, illegally impounded funds, and threatened to cancel unspent funds at the end of the fiscal year. Now the administration is back, asking Congress to ratify even more cuts of programs that we agreed to on a bipartisan basis and, in many cases, that were signed into law by President Trump. I know that many of my Republican colleagues recognize the danger this proposal represents beyond its devastating cuts; yet few are willing to oppose it. The Trump administration claims it has found over $9 billion in wasteful spending at the State Department and at the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, and it points to some seemingly egregious examples of frivolous spending. I won't defend the outrageous waste of taxpayers' dollars. No one should or could. And if we were just voting on the examples some of my Republican colleagues like to highlight, I would suspect that kind of bill would get bipartisan support. But the longer the administration's examples of waste are scrutinized, the more it seems they may be exaggerated or even fabricated.”