Political Quotes

“Like so many others, I deeply regret that we are here in what was a totally avoidable situation. I must take you back to January, however, which for many of us was about not repeating the failures of the past and letting Republican voters across the country down once again, when in the past for many years, when Republicans have had majorities in this Chamber, we have passed our major spending bills predominantly with Democratic votes; something the other side of the House has never and would never do with majority control. Back in January, I expressed my concern that the previous 2 years during my first term here in this House, we had not used every tool at our disposal to fight against the harmful, radical Democrat agenda that is destroying the country, bankrupting the country, and under which the American people are suffering. Most in here wouldn't know that I helped persuade my five colleagues who comprised the remaining resistance in the wee morning hours of January 7 to switch our votes to ``present'' to let Mr. McCarthy become Speaker. I went to him on this very floor to tell him that he was finally going to become Speaker on the next vote. In that moment, it was clear to me that I or we could have asked for anything in exchange for switching our votes to ``present,'' but I and we asked for nothing.…”