Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, with six days left until we default on our national debt, there is simply no excuse for the partisan gridlock that has blocked all progress toward a fair and balanced agreement. This week, Congressional switchboards lit up and websites crashed under the sheer volume of outreach from citizens who wanted their voices heard in this debate. I hope my colleagues were listening. The resounding message I received from Rhode Islanders was that they are tired of political games. They want their leaders to work together to solve this problem in the best interests of the country. We have an opportunity to do that, and we literally can't afford to squander it with the usual Washington politics. Our surest path to success includes a balanced approach of spending cuts and revenue increases that will reduce our budget deficit, stabilize our rising debt, reassure global markets and create greater economic certainty to bolster our fragile recovery. I will not support a plan that forces benefit cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid or places the entire burden of deficit reduction on middle- class families, seniors, the disabled and others already struggling through the effects of a deep recession. We must all be willing to share in the sacrifice, and that includes multinational corporations and the richest 2 percent of income earners who received the lion's share of tax breaks under the Bush tax cuts.…”