Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker, it's tempting to say it's about time the House put aside extreme partisanship and work together on compromise to address the Nation's most pressing issues. But, in reality, it is far past time that we put aside extreme partisanship. Throughout the entirety of the 112th Congress, we have seen narrow political interests placed ahead of the public interest. So here we are on New Year's night, with the clock running out on the very existence of this Congress, finally considering bipartisan legislation to provide middle class tax cuts, require the wealthiest to, once again, pay their fair share so we can grow the economy, create jobs and protect the most vulnerable in our society. It is indeed well past time we got about the people's business. Mr. Speaker, in 2011, I served on the Biden group of both Republican and Democratic Representatives and Senators who worked with the Vice President on our Nation's fiscal issues. We made good progress in those talks until our Republican friends walked away, fearing the wrath of the Tea Party. I also served on the bipartisan Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the so-called supercommittee that spent countless hours discussing these issues in detail. It was very clear that the elements of a fair and balanced fiscal plan were achievable. But at the end of the process, the Republican leaders refused to compromise, and the supercommittee failed. So here we are.…”