Political Quotes

“I again rise in strong opposition to the rule and the underlying resolution. I oppose this rule because it is not a serious effort to end the government shutdown engineered by House Republicans by cherry-picking some programs to fund while leaving unfunded other programs critical to our nation and its future. Both President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Reid have made it crystal clear that they will not accept this game-playing because the piecemeal strategy now being pursued by House Republicans is not an honest or serious option to reopen the government and will not end the impacts of this shutdown that extend across our country. Mr. Speaker, USA Today said it best and I quote: House Republicans who forced the government closure offered to reopen some of the most popular programs, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, on a piecemeal basis. It's like seizing a school bus full of kids then offering to release the cutest ones. The mounting toll will increasingly expose the shutdown's foolishness. The sooner the Republicans free all their hostages, the better. Initially, our friends across the aisle were content to take the whole nation hostage by refusing to fund the government unless the Affordable Care Act was defunded. That effort failed. Undaunted, House Republicans tried again. The effort failed again.…”