Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from New York and the gentleman from Nevada for organizing this Special Order, and the gentlelady from Ohio for her leadership in the Black Caucus, and the other Members who are participating tonight. Mr. Speaker, our economy has been improving very slowly over the last few years, and we need to do everything we can to make sure that we create as many jobs as possible. Thursday, the United States faces a crisis, and that is whether we will pay our debts or whether we will, for the first time in our history, default on our debts. The debate on the debt ceiling really isn't much of a debate because every credible economist has already concluded that failure to adjust the debt ceiling will cause serious adverse consequences to the domestic economy, and even the global economy. That conclusion really ought to end the debate. For those who want a little more information, you only have to look back a couple of years. The Republicans made a credible threat on the debt ceiling, and the S&P, just based on the credible threat--although we raised it in time--downgraded the creditworthiness of the United States for the first time in history. So we really don't know exactly what would happen. We know none of it is going to be good, but we would be looking at possible increases in interest rates, lost jobs, stock market collapse and people's pensions at stake, government checks like Social Security and veterans benefits, and doctors not being paid under Medicare.…”