Political Quotes

“I appreciate the bipartisan conversation that is going on with the chair, and I hope more of that will go on. That really is a little bit of why I rise today, because I hope and pray that if there--while we have many legitimate policy differences in this body, one thing we ought to have absolute, complete agreement on is that the United States of America cannot afford another government shutdown. The last shutdown, which President Trump was so proud to initiate, cost our economy--and this is the lowest estimate we could find so we don't look like we are overstating--an estimated $6 billion. The truth is, that number hardly reflects the human cost of this self-inflicted disaster our country was led into. A recent survey found that 62 percent of Federal workers depleted most or all of their emergency savings, 42 percent of Federal workers took on debt to pay bills or other expenses, and 25 percent tapped their retirement accounts. If you tap your IRA, you pay tax penalties, and you get none of that reimbursed. Listen to this: 25 percent of our Federal workers who were the victims of this shutdown--25 percent of our Federal workers, during this shutdown, had to visit a food bank. If you work for the United States of America, the greatest Nation in the world, and you are asked to show up to work without pay, you should not have to visit a food bank.…”