Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, do we really want to take care of ourselves first before the rest of the country? This is the bill that takes care of us, of our internal operations. When we finish with this, 97 percent of the appropriations process is still undone. Legislative branch may be the first appropriations bill. It could be the only appropriations bill enacted. Do we really want that? Do we really want to be increasing the majority whip's organization by 35 percent when we cut Head Start by 20 percent, when we cut Meals on Wheels for the elderly by 20 percent? Is that really the situation that we want to present to our constituents? If in fact we are going to increase House operations, is it really appropriate to be putting the money into the leadership offices, into the committee offices, as deserving as they may be, when we know that the people who are most underpaid are the people who work directly for us for our constituents, the people who answer constituent letters, the people who deal with constituent problems, the people who are out face-to-face with the people we represent? They are the most underpaid of all of the people that work within this organization.”