"We are not going to repeal the Affordable Care Act, because if we did, we would be saying to all of those kids, hey, you are back at the mercy of this heartless preexisting insurance company practice that we are putting in the rearview mirror."
"here we are today, days away from a possible government shutdown which could affect hundreds of thousands of workers' jobs."
"I really hope that Speaker Boehner and the rest of his Republican leadership will stand up to the extremists on the Tea Party minority that just seem to be committed to crisis and stop the hostage tak..."
"Look, I think it is reasonable to have debates about lots of things, but the one thing we cannot debate, that is sacrosanct, is we pay our debt on time."
"I think it adds to the uncertain economic environment and it impedes hiring, investment decisions, and it is a weight, a corrosive--I call it a corrosive on economic growth, yes."
"what we have seen recently from a minority of extreme Republicans is really deeply disappointing and harmful."
"Anything that adds to the uncertain economic environment, and this would qualify, is a weight."
"I do not know of a single Democratic member of the Senate or House who either wants to shut down government or is advocating or threatening a shutdown of government."
"Regardless of the magnitude of the harm, would a government shutdown, under current circumstances, be harmful to the economy?"
"I do not know of a single Democratic member of the Senate or House who has blocked us from going to a budget conference."
"The public does not have a high opinion of the Congress--so this would just be one other example of the malfunctioning of the legislative process."