Political Quotes

“people talk about partisan gridlock and the do-nothing Congress. There is plenty of justification for it. Judge Merrick Garland, nominated to the Supreme Court on March 16, has been waiting for a hearing, not to mention a vote, for more than 6 months. None of the appropriation bills to fund the government in 2017 will be enacted before the end of this fiscal year, just 2 days from now, even though every one of them has been reported by the Appropriations Committee. We are once again voting on a stopgap continuing resolution to keep the government running until December 9. As part of the continuing resolution, I proposed including a provision that would give American businesses a level playing field against their foreign competitors. Right now, the Export-Import Bank cannot approve financing totaling more than $10 million, because the Republicans have refused to vote on the President's nominee for the third member of the Ex-Im Bank's board of directors. Under current law, that means the Bank lacks a quorum, and it is severely limited in what it can do. My provision would have permitted the current board members to approve financing over $10 million, for the period of the continuing resolution. This was not a farfetched idea. In fact, both House and Senate fiscal year 2017 appropriations bills that are waiting for a vote include a similar provision.…”