"Congress should be in session right now working to create jobs and grow our economy. Yet, rather than do the work of the American people, Republicans decided to head home early to campaign – without extending middle class tax cuts, without acting to prevent the fiscal cliff, and without passing a jobs agenda. This uncertainty undermines the middle class and our economy."
October 05, 2012
"I want to call to your attention this flyer that you all have there and it says: “how much more will the Romney-Ryan Medicare plan cost you?” If you’re 65 or over, it’ll cost you over $11,000 and if you’re 54 – well you can read it yourself, but the fact is this hurts all the way down – if you’re 29 years old, some of you may be, get ready to spend $331,000 on your health care if Medicare is overturned, if the Medicare guarantee is severed. And that’s what they want to do – some of their previous leaders have said wither, ‘Medicare should wither on the vine.’ And that is exactly what this is. This is the wither on the vine agenda, unfortunately they have accelerated, tried to accelerate that withering by misrepresenting to the American people what happened in the Affordable Care Act in relationship to Medicare and that is over $700 billion were taken from a decrease in the increase of what private sector providers would receive in order to plow that into increased benefits for our seniors and prolong the longevity and the stability of Medicare. It has been misrepresented to the public. We have to correct the record. But the fact is that on, come five weeks from today, Medicare will be on the ballot and that being in jeopardy makes this a big fight for us..."
October 02, 2012
"Well, it is baseball season but it’s also a season for us to be in session. As you know, at the beginning of the year, this first week in October was scheduled to be a week of work – where we would come together to do the work of the American people who sent us here to do exactly that. In addition to having the shortest session since 1961, the fewest days in session, they’ve now cancelled this work week. Which means that from August, the first week in August until the middle of November we will have been in session eight days. Why is that important? It’s important because if we were here we could pass a jobs bill, we could pass middle income tax cuts, we could protect Medicare from the Ryan-[Republican] budget by demonstrating clearly that that will not prevail. We could be passing the Violence Against Women Act, we could be passing the Farm bill. We have work to do."
"As the investigation proceeds and new intelligence and evidence are collected, we will gain an even clearer picture of the events that led to the tragic loss of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty. We owe it to them, to those who continue to serve in our missions abroad, and to all Americans to set politics aside. We must allow the investigation and accountability review board to proceed, and to make future judgments and conclusions based on the facts. That is what is needed to protect our diplomats and that is what the American people deserve."
October 01, 2012
“The time for the House to act is now, without further delay, to aid the drought-stricken areas from coast to coast and support our nation’s farm community. Republicans must bring Congress back to work.”
“The directive by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for DHS to issue written guidance to clarify that ‘family relationships’ includes LBGT couples is welcome and will provide a measure of clarity and confidence to families dealing with separation in immigration cases. Our nation is served when loving families are kept together."
September 28, 2012
“While we have put our economic growth plans on the table – to invest in manufacturers, small businesses, tax cuts for working families, and America's infrastructure, Republicans have offered only obstruction and delay. That’s why we continue to call on Republicans to return to Congress and join us to get the job done for the American people."
September 25, 2012
"Once again, California leads the way for our nation: today, as Governor Brown signed the same day voting bill, we affirmed our commitment to ensuring all citizens have the opportunity to exercise their right to vote in our democracy."
September 24, 2012
Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer today sent a letter to the House Democratic Caucus urging Democratic Members to highlight the past 20 months of the Republican Majority’s record of missed opportunities and obstruction in addressing the nation’s central challenges.
“We still have work to do to continue the American recovery. If the Republicans had cooperated at all with President Obama in the last two years, we’d be much farther down the road to recovery. We cooperated with President Bush but they would not offer an ounce of cooperation to President Obama and our economy has paid the price. We have reaped the benefits of some of what happened in the two years when we were in the majority and President Obama, in the first two years of his term. But so much more could have been done with some cooperation from the Republicans."
September 21, 2012