“I want to, Madame Speaker, to congratulate, I was going to call him Dutch, but Congressman Ruppersberger and the other Members of the Maryland delegation, more importantly, join them in congratulating the Ravens on a – they beat a mighty champion at the Super Bowl. As a proud 49er fan, who grew up on Johnny Unitas in Baltimore, going to those games as a teenager, and raising my own children on Joe Montana and Steve Young, you can just imagine how exciting this game was for me."

“Well if the Ravens and the 49ers fans can come together, hopefully so can the Democrats and the Republicans on an issue of this grave concern to our country, our budget, which should be a statement of our national values. Instead, as Mr. Van Hollen said, we see the Republicans playing games with the budget. Playing games, that’s what they have been doing and that’s what they continue to do as we go into this spring. Well, we need to find solutions – playing games, it gives new meaning to the term ‘March Madness,’ because that’s what will result if we have to face a sequester. It’s a very bad idea; a sequester should be out of the question; and we should be talking about how we find a solution instead of a sequester."

“It was also important to hear from him specifically as a voice of labor, because I almost always, in many of my meetings with my Members and in public as well, quote Walter Reuther who said something very, very important. We all know, well, some of you are too young to know, you know from history, the rest of us know from our younger days, what an important he was in our country, as well as a leader of the U.A.W. And he said, and I’m going to read it because I want it to be a direct quote: ‘There's a direct relationship between the bread box and the ballot box, and what the union fights for and wins at the bargaining table can be taken away in the legislative halls.’ I want Members to hear that all the time, because it talks about what our responsibility is. But it also talks about the fact that you cannot – he began the quote by saying that direct relationship between the bread box and the ballot box – you cannot separate them..."

“Good afternoon, everyone. We are gathered here to celebrate something so momentous, when it passed twenty years ago in the Congress, and was sent to President Clinton, he said: ‘Family and medical leave is a matter of pure common sense and a matter of common decency. It will provide Americans what they need most: peace of mind. Never again will parents have to fear losing their jobs because of their families.’"

“Americans and Members of Congress should remember two words about this legislation: three months, three months. That’s how long Republicans are prepared to raise the debt ceiling today. They really don’t even address the debt ceiling issue, three months. But Republican leaders are doing more: they have made promises to their fellow Republicans, to get their vote, to even go beyond the Ryan budget, this is like the Ryan budget on steroids. They have called this bill ‘no budget, no pay.’ But who pays under the Republican budget? Seniors pay – ending the Medicare guarantee. Seniors, children, and people with disabilities pay – cutting Medicaid. Children pay because it will cut investments in their education, in their future, in their self-fulfillment, in the competitiveness of our country and the global economy, veterans pay because of the gutting of our domestic spending priorities."

“Actions, not just words, for them. This is one of the longest delays of congressional action in response to a major natural disaster in recent history. For many of us, again, who’ve ever seen or can confirm the aftermath of a hurricane, or tornado, an earthquake, whatever, we know that every single day is too long to wait. Hope can never come fast enough, we cannot let another moment, hour, day go by without giving the biggest possible vote of confidence and hope to the people of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and in some, I understand, in Pennsylvania."

“In our time, the CBC has led the way in protecting the most vulnerable, working to strengthen the middle class and those striving to get into what the CBC has stood for: better jobs, and growing small businesses, not only through job growth but equity, equity for all, better schools and greater access to medical care. The CBC has promoted diversity in government – exemplified by our Democratic Caucus, now the first in history, this is the first time in history that the Democratic Caucus in the House will be made up of a majority of women, minorities, and members of the LGBT community."

“So, let’s honor our responsibilities, which is, again, the place where people place their trust. You know, they ignore government, they don’t like government, they don’t want this, they don’t want that, but at a time like this, in a time of emergency is really when we prove our worth. Let’s prove our worth and urge the Speaker to bring this legislation to the floor, quickly deal with while the Senate is still there, it can be sent to the President for his signature and hope can flow from here instead of a sense of wonderment – of ‘don’t tell me that.’"

“And now tonight, tonight is this Congress, this House of Representatives [is] going to pull the rug out again from them legislatively? Just to remind: the Senate of the United States, in a bipartisan fashion, passed a $6.4 billion assistance program for this natural disaster, it met the documented needs that were put forth by the people of the regions, by Governor Christie, by Governor Cuomo, by Governor Malloy, by Mayor Bloomberg, and so many others."

“We will increase, by voting for this legislation and passing it in a strong bipartisan way, we’ll increase the confidence of consumers, of the markets, of businesses, of employers to hire more. We will extend unemployment insurance to people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. This is very, very important, not only to those individuals, but to our economy, because this is money that is spent immediately, injecting demand into the economy, creating jobs. We’ll extend permanent tax relief for the middle class, for more than 98 percent of American taxpayers, more than 97 percent of America’s small businesses. We will support our middle class, strengthen it by supporting child tax credits, credits for higher education, American Opportunity credits, Earned Income Tax Credit, and the like, our distinguished Ranking Member went through some of the provisions, but it’s important to see them in light of what they mean to America’s working families. And by doing this, by voting for this agreement, we will demonstrate that we have listened to the American people, we have heeded their call, once again, to work together in a bipartisan way."