Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, we have had over 60 continuing resolutions in this body since 1981, where we have had a Congress of one party and a President of a different party and the appropriation bills have not occurred on time. What happens with a continuing resolution? For Federal employees there is anxiety. In the case of a shutdown, of which we have had over a dozen during that period of time, Federal employees are paid for not working. As we saw last time, they did not even receive their checks at Christmastime, and the American taxpayers are the losers. For Federal contractors, they lose under a continuing resolution even if it is passed, because it is only for a given period of time. Federal agencies then do not let out contracts that were won on a competitive basis, and the business of the American people does not continue. This is a fail-safe system, if the job does not get done here, so that the Federal Government employees and contractors will not be held hostage. This is not about leverage in the budget debate. This is simply to say that the hostages, the innocent Federal workers who are out there doing their job every day, are not going to be the hostages, are not going to be punished and will be treated fairly. I wish we had had this 2 years ago. We have a chance to change that now. I support the Gekas amendment.”