Lloyd Bentsen: “I believe in the House absurdity begets absurdity. This shutdown is obviously one of the most absurd things I have seen.…”

“I believe in the House absurdity begets absurdity. This shutdown is obviously one of the most absurd things I have seen. It clearly has accomplished nothing, although it has provided a great deal of hardship, not only for Federal employees but American taxpayers as well. Last week the senior Senator from Texas, my colleague in the other body, Mr. Gramm, made a comment asking if anybody noticed whether or not the Federal Government had shutdown. I would take a moment of the House to mention two people who I think did notice that the Federal Government had shutdown. One is Molly Scott, who deals with the contractors at the veterans hospital in Houston, who are not getting paid. Nor is Ms. Scott getting paid. In fact, her apartment house is about to start an eviction notice against her, and her 9-year-old disabled son can no longer go to day care because she does not have any money to pay them. But it turns out Mr. Gramm also noticed, because 2 days ago his campaign for the presidency was capable of picking up a check for $4 million from the Federal Elections Commission, which is a so-called entitlement under the law.”