Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. There is a sudden sense of urgency to address the financial stability of the Postal Service, but I would simply ask the body: Where was the sense of urgency from our House Democratic leadership at the start of the pandemic? Look, I recognized in January this deal over in China was a bad deal, a novel virus, biological behavior not known, not worked out. The Postal Service's problems did not surface this week. They have been going on for years. But the Postal Service will not go bankrupt tomorrow, and yet we have been called back here to vote on an issue that, quite frankly, is not going to get solved from today's activities. But I called on the Committee on Energy and Commerce last February to do hearings on this novel coronavirus. My requests were ignored and then subsequently dismissed because we had other important work to do: horse racing, flavored tobacco, ticket stubs--any number of things-- other than work on the novel coronavirus. But we could have provided support in the form of funding for vaccines and testing and more. We have done some of that in the short- term sense, but we could continue to support our Nation's pandemic response in additional ways, which is why I have introduced legislation that aligns with the legislation already existing in the Senate, where we could come together and provide our country with some of the critical resources necessary to fight this novel coronavirus.…”