Political Quotes

“Once again the Republican leadership is attacking America's 2.3 million civilian Federal employees. In a brazen act of political opportunism, Speaker Boehner is using the public's well-founded dissatisfaction with Congress to bludgeon public servants. H.R. 3835, which we will vote on under suspension of the rules on Wednesday, will freeze pay for Members of Congress . . . and Federal employees. Two million of the 2.3 million Federal employees--which is 86%--do NOT live in the Washington, DC metropolitan region. They live in what has been referred to fondly as the ``real America.'' The region with the highest percentage (37 percent) of Federal employees is the South, home of such venerable institutions as the Oak Ridge research lab, Red Stone Arsenal, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The majority of Federal employees work on defense and homeland security. They guard our borders, protect the safety of airline travel, fight forest fires, and track down online child predators. Would it be unreasonable to point out that passage of this bill could aid and abet terrorists, cross- border gun runners, and child pornographers? We can all anticipate the anonymous PAC-funded television ads that will run against those of us who oppose this ignominious legislation: ``Call and ask why Congressman X voted to raise his own pay.'' The other consequences of this bill, should it pass, are far worse.…”