Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to take a moment and add my voice to the voices who spoke earlier--the Senator from Maryland and the Senator from California--about this situation with the FAA. I would imagine if you are a visitor to our Nation's Capitol and have come to see a little Senate debate, it is a pretty interesting day to be here. It was great news that the country avoided default today. Although it was an imperfect compromise, I was glad to vote for that. We still have obviously a long way to go on debt and deficits. There is another issue that has not gotten as much attention as the debt ceiling debate, although it is clear that at almost any other time in our history this issue would be on the front page of every newspaper around the country and on every nightly TV newscast. I am talking about the fact that the Federal Aviation Administration--the entity that ensures the safety of our skies, the safety of our airplanes, the maintenance of our airports--has been in partial shutdown mode for over a week. Close to 4,000 FAA employees, many from the Virginia/DC area, have been furloughed. These folks do not know when they are going to get a paycheck or when they are going to be able to go back to work. And they have not been furloughed as a result of anything they have done. This situation is not the result of complaints about the quality of service or about safety of the FAA.…”