Political Quotes

“I salute my colleague for those eloquent remarks. Mr. Speaker, the famed English poet Alfred Tennyson once wrote, ``Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come.'' Indeed, let's hope that this is the spirit that greets us here in the start of the second session of the 113th Congress. Having ended last year on a high note with the passage of the bipartisan budget agreement, we should resolve to keep that momentum going in this new year. Our first order of business should be delivering on the bipartisan accord reached before the holidays. Thanks to that agreement, we, for the first time, will replace a portion of the indiscriminate cuts of sequestration with a more balanced approach. That is particularly important in communities like my own in northern Virginia which were disproportionately affected because of their strong ties to the Federal Government. Next week's anticipated appropriations package will increase Federal investments in research, innovation, and transportation. That, in turn, will help unleash business investments and create jobs, which have lagged due to the sense of uncertainty fueled by the political brinkmanship here in Congress. Until those dollars produce results, we need to work together to extend the current safety net, specifically, unemployment insurance and nutrition assistance, to make sure we are not leaving our friends and neighbors behind.…”