Political Quotes

“Mr. President, last night, with an overwhelming vote, the Senate ended debate that will conclude the postcloture period, which will run until midnight tonight. Tomorrow morning the Senate will pass a continuing resolution appropriations bill that will keep the lights on and keep the Federal Government running. I have told my constituents that the irony of this is that we only appropriate funds for about 30 percent of the government, and half of that 30 percent, roughly, is for defense spending; 70 percent, as the Presiding Officer knows well since he is an expert in this area, is on autopilot. Since 2011, since the Budget Control Act, we have actually done a remarkably decent job of freezing the growth of discretionary spending. It is roughly at the 2007 appropriations level. But the problem is that without bipartisan cooperation, we are unable to touch the 70 percent of government spending that has been growing by leaps and bounds, and that simply can't continue. This year, for the first time since I believe 2009, under the new majority, the 114th Congress actually passed a budget, and that was a notable achievement. I am almost a little sheepish about mentioning that as an achievement because most people across America would think that is not something to be particularly proud of and that that should happen routinely, so why give anybody a pat on the back for doing something they ought to have done in the first place?…”