Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I find it thoroughly unconscionable that House Republicans are preventing Congress from working its will by stifling a vote to support a bipartisan Senate compromise to extend unemployment benefits and the middle class tax cut for 2 months. While I strongly believe the middle class tax cuts and other provisions within this bill deserve a full-year extension, the utter intransigence of Tea Party Republicans has made compromise without a self-imposed crisis practically impossible. We could have spent the better part of a year working on this bill, and others like it, to buoy our economy and help Americans get back to work. Instead, the Republican majority spent most of the entire session considering multiple bills to repeal health reform, rescind environmental protections, and further deregulate the financial industry, none of which helps create jobs for my constituents back in Rhode Island. Now my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have made a last- minute decision to derail a compromise on the one bill that economists agree would actually stimulate the economy. As a result, when families across Rhode Island come together to celebrate the holidays, they are going to face the possibility of paying higher taxes or seeing their unemployment benefits expire in the new year. This is unacceptable and it is unnecessary. Mr.…”