Political Quotes

“I thank the Republican manager and the distinguished ranking member, my good friend from Maryland (Mr. Cummings). Mr. Speaker, it's been an Orwellian week in which black is white and white is black. We've got Members who voted for the shutdown who appeared surprised that that led to the closure of national parks, which didn't stop some of them from berating park Federal employees for enforcing the shutdown. We have other Members in this Orwellian week saying that the shutdown is all about respect, and we've got to get something out of this; we just don't know what it is. So, finally, a moment of decency. Finally, we turn to the men and women who serve our country, the 800,000 Federal employees who are furloughed, and we do something decent for them. We alleviate the angst of whether there will be that paycheck whenever we get around to reopening the government. This week, one of those dedicated civil servants from my constituency, Dave Lavery, received the prestigious Service to America Medal in recognition of his exemplary leadership of the 6,000-person team that conceived and executed NASA's incredible Curiosity Rover Mission to Mars. America is unbelievably fortunate to have this kind of talented and passionate Federal worker like Dave Lavery, whose public service should be celebrated, appreciated, and yes, compensated. On October 1, Dave was one of 17,600 NASA employees deemed ``nonessential'' and was furloughed.…”