Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this rule because, once again, here we are with all kinds of flowery notions about the law and so forth, and we are actually deeming this budget as passed. As a member of the Budget Conference Committee, I can tell you that the reason for the delay is not because there was an attempt to reach a bipartisan agreement. Oh, no. The Democratic budget conferees have been completely shut out of the budget negotiation process. You would think that without these pesky Democrats in the way, it would not have been that hard for the majority-controlled House and the Senate to come up with an agreement of how best to shred the social safety net, drive more people into poverty, cut our investments in infrastructure, block grant Medicaid, slash SNAP, end the Affordable Care Act and then, of course, keep the money and the savings from the Affordable Care Act, and take 69 percent of nondefense cuts from low-income and moderate- income families. They could have done it. So instead of the majority party governing, they have resorted to this plan B and deeming the budget as passed. Now, you know, this Republican budget claims to balance in 10 years, but it doesn't do it. It gets the savings from the Affordable Care Act, which it eliminates. And also, to appease the war hawks in the Republican caucus, they throw this money into the overseas contingency operations, also known as a slush fund.…”