Political Quotes

“I thank my friend from Tennessee, and I thank him for his able leadership on this bill. Listening to our friends on the other side of the aisle, I urge them all to re-read Upton Sinclair's ``The Jungle,'' because that's where you would take us. You would take us to a world in which there was no Federal oversight of the food supply in America, there was no oversight of child labor in America, there was no oversight of workplace safety in America. And tragedies ensued. America's water, America's air is cleaner, more breathable, and healthier today precisely because of regulation. The narrative that all regulation is burdensome--it only entails a cost, it never entails a benefit--is absolutely false and needs to be rejected by this body. Sadly, Mr. Chairman, it is once again shaping up to be a lost summer for Congress as a number of issues ripe for debate--not this one--will be left to wither on the vine as Members leave town for the next 5 weeks. That's frustrating, after this year began with so much promise. I was pleased to be part of a bipartisan coalition that voted for the New Year's Day deal to avert the fiscal cliff. A few weeks later, that same bipartisan coalition banded together to provide emergency aid to communities ravaged by Superstorm Sandy. Thankfully, our success didn't stop even there.…”