Political Quotes

“I woke up this morning feeling like I think most Americans feel today--pretty disappointed in the antics of Washington, DC. As my colleague from New York just pointed out, we all know why we are here: Speaker Boehner and the Republicans in the House demanded a ransom in order to keep our government open, and their ransom was to repeal a law they do not support--ObamaCare. They made it very clear that the government was going to shut down. My constituents in Washington State who were supposed to go to work today--thousands of them--aren't going to get their paychecks because of that ransom. They made it very clear that they were not going to open the government over a policy about which they care passionately. I have to say that I started my morning this morning talking to a number of businesspeople involved in the construction industry in the State of Washington. They told me that this uncertainty, this crisis, this shutdown of government is impacting their small businesses at home in the State of Washington because who is going to sign a contract to build something new when it is so unclear where our economy is going to be as a result of this shutdown and the looming debt ceiling crisis. So they are seeing a real retraction of their own businesses right now-- not because of the government funding of a program or anything else that is ongoing or in dispute but because of this shutdown today.…”