Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am here for my 189th ``Time to Wake Up'' speech to discuss the Republican tax bill. Who knew? Folks watching today's debate from home are probably wondering what the tax bill has to do with climate change. That is a good question. They might also ask, as I do, why the tax bill includes massive giveaways to fossil fuel producers or what opening up precious wilderness to oil drilling has to do with tax reform. The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said: ``We need a simpler tax code that puts more money back into the pockets of workers and families.'' Republicans, he said, want to create ``a fairer, more predictable system for taxpayers across the country.'' Their tax plan is none of those things. Its benefits are weighted heavily to big corporations, not workers and families. The corporate tax cuts are permanent, while the modest breaks for some workers disappear after a few years. What is fair or predictable about that? The chairman also said: I want a bipartisan process that renders a bipartisan result. . . . I think we need a vigorous and open debate in the Senate, which, in my view, should include a full process in committee and regular order on the Senate floor. We got none of that. Republicans have rammed this bill through, using every procedural and parliamentary trick at their disposal, as a purely partisan measure, in the dead of night, producing amendments in handwritten chicken scratch in the margins of the bill at the last minute.…”