Political Quotes

“Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, right now we are on a course for yet another Republican government shutdown in just 13 days. We know what this looks like and how damaging it is because we saw it 2 years ago when tea party Republicans dug in their heels and tried to use shutdown threats to repeal the Affordable Care Act. We know that during the 16-day shutdown that followed the tea party tantrum, workers across our country didn't know when they would get their next paycheck, businesses felt the sting of fewer customers, and families across our country lost even more trust that elected officials in our country could even get anything done. After all that--after all the damage families and communities felt--we also know that the 2013 government shutdown actually did nothing to stop the Affordable Care Act. Once that shutdown ended, I was proud to work with the Republican Budget chairman, Paul Ryan, to do what we shouldn't have needed a shutdown to get done, and that was negotiate a 2-year bipartisan budget deal that prevented another government shutdown. It restored critical investments in priorities like education, research, and defense jobs, and it showed families their government can get something done when both sides are willing to come to the table and compromise. I was hopeful that after the economy-rattling exercise in futility and the bipartisan deal that came out of it, Republican leaders would have learned a few lessons.…”