Political Quotes

“Day 10 of a Republican shutdown of the Federal Government. Where are we? Well, the consequences are cascading. They build up: $373 million a day in new Small Business Administration loans frozen, preventing small businesses from getting started, preventing small businesses from expanding and hiring new workers; 10,000 applications a day for Social Security benefits and Medicare frozen. Veterans benefits, we have reduced the backlog by 30 percent. The people who are reducing that backlog, furloughed. I had a constituent in my district who lost a loved one at Walter Reed Army Hospital. When the funeral home came to collect their loved one for preparation for his final burial, there were no doctors for the death certificate because they had been furloughed. This affects every American. Sometimes we are not aware of how interwoven Federal services are in our lives. We count on and take for granted that the Federal Government is protecting us from diseases. There is research being done on a crash basis to make sure that antibiotic-resistant infections don't kill us and our children. It is a real threat. Those researchers, furloughed. Protecting illnesses and invasive species, including deadly species, from coming into the United States, at risk because the men and women who are charged with that mission are furloughed. We are now a subject of conversation all around the world. What happened to America? How can we be a beacon for others?…”