Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, we are in this extraordinary circumstance for a variety of reasons that we have talked about on the floor many times when we were debating prior continuing resolutions. Part of it, without trying to point fingers because that does not do us any good when we are trying to seek resolutions to point fingers, but nevertheless the fact is the other body has not completed a lot of work that is the basis for us trying to complete our work. It has been mentioned over and over, but I think it is worth mentioning one more time that the House by law, in fact both the House and the Senate by law, is required to pass a budget in the spring. The House did that and did pass their budget. The Senate did not pass their budget at that time and they have not yet. Maybe there has been talk going back and forth trying to settle on a figure, a spending figure; but the way that it has always been done in the past is that one body passes a budget, the other body passes a budget; and if there is a difference, you work out the differences. That is part of the give and take in the legislative process. That simply did not happen this year.”