Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague. I support the doc fix in this bill. I support the payroll tax cut extension in this bill. I support the extension of unemployment insurance to so many of our fellow Americans who have suffered in the Great Recession. Sadly, I cannot, however, bring myself to vote for this bill. I represent the third largest number of Federal employees in the United States. They're asking a simple question: What is the nexus, what is the relationship between their employment and these worthy subjects? And the answer is ``none.'' Three times this week the Republican majority has attempted to get at benefits and pay and compensation of the Federal workforce, and often it's based on misinformation--a bloated workforce. We entered data into a hearing record just the other day that shows that the Obama administration, in absolute terms, has 350,000 fewer Federal workers than those that served during the administration of President H.W. Bush. As a ratio to thousand population in America, it's the lowest since John Kennedy was in the White House in 50 years. They've already given $90 billion to debt reduction through pay freezes and future pay freezes. And of course there is legislation to whack at their pensions, affecting both current and future employees in the pending transportation legislation that I hope will die of its own weight. It is not fair to ask only one group in America to make a sacrifice. Shared sacrifice should mean shared sacrifice.”