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Senator Barbara Boxer, who is sadly retiring at the end of 2016, took to the Senate floor for 20 minutes and delivered a catastrophic skewering to the Republican led Congress for their irresponsibility, lack of compassion, irrational hatred, and obstruction that jeopardizes our lives. This has to be, by far, the best attack on the GOP’s destructive policies that have hindered our growth and security.
Boxer starts out by lambasting them for their reckless disregard for national security over their threats to shut down the Department of Homeland Security because they don’t want to fund President Obama’s halted immigration action:
“This is a self-inflicted crisis, made up by the Republicans. It is dangerous, it is the height of irresponsibility, and it’s unnecessary…..At a time when we are facing serious threats to our national security, to furlough 30,000 Department of Homeland Security workers, and to force more than 100,000 front-line Homeland Security personnel to work without pay. [Yelling] Why don’t these Senators go without their pay? Give up your pay. You want to come to work everyday and stand there and look for threats to our homeland and worry about how you’re going to pay the bill for your kid? Go without pay.”
“Give up your pay! Give up your healthcare, give up your benefits, if this is so important to you. Oh, no, they’ll collect their pay!”
“They’re throwing a hissy fit because the President stepped in and has a policy to take care of immigration. And why did the President step in? Because Republicans refused to take up a bipartisan bill and pass it and take care of the immigration issue like they’re supposed to.”
Boxer took no prisoners as she shot back at the Republicans who used this in retaliation for President Obama’s immigration action, which she says should have nothing to do with funding the Department of Homeland Security. For that, she calls out the GOP on their “family values” BS:
“I thought they were the party of ‘family values.’ Show me where that’s true? Ripping families apart? I thought they were the party of ‘economic prosperity.’ Show me how that’s true, when we know from study after study that one of the greatest things we can do for our economy and job creation is get people out of the shadows so they can go buy a home and hold a good job. They (Republicans) can’t or won’t pass an immigration bill. They will not do their job. So when the president steps in and does his job, they say, ‘Oh,this is terrible! Let’s shutdown a totally unrelated department. The Department of Homeland Security.”
Boxer highlighted the real reason why the Republicans are causing this whole debacle in the first place — their irrational hatred for President Obama:
“Wake up and smell the roses. He is the President, and he is doing the right thing for America ’cause he loves America. And he understands that these are people who are going to help America move on to an era of greatness.”
“Our national security is at stake, our family values are at stake. And our economy is at stake here. So get over the fact that you don’t like the president. We get it. You couldn’t beat him. Too bad for you. But you’re in charge here, in the Senate. Do your job! Bring an immigration bill to the floor. Let’s let this Homeland Security Bill go. It’s a bipartisan bill. It’s funding for the most important thing we’re doing today. Let it go. Don’t hold it hostage to your hatred of this president, and I use that word because that’s what I think. That’s what I think.”
Tugging on the heart strings, Boxer told the Senate of her mother, an immigrant, who she believes would have been deported if politicians treated immigrants then as they do today:
“I mentioned before that I am the daughter of an immigrant mother. You know, I try to think of what my life would be without my mother. She gave me my conscience. She gave me my values. She gave me all the love and support I needed to pursue my dreams: the daughter of an immigrant mother who never graduated from high school, in the United States Senate! But they would have deported my mother.”
Finally someone said it for what it was. The only reason why Republicans have been the dangerous obstructionists they are, towards Obamacare, funding the government, passing meaningful jobs bills, etc. is because they hate him, they loathe him, and they want him to get no credit for doing anything great for this country. It resonates with our political discourse, in Congress and not. Boxer finished with what is on everyone’s mind:
“So I say to my Republican friends. There’s s presidential race coming. Forget this last one. Get over it. Okay? Let’s work together. Listen, I served with five presidents. I’m a strong Democrat. Everyone will tell you that. But I respect the office of the presidency. If I didn’t agree with Ronald Reagan, I came down here and said it. But we had the respect back and forth. If we lost, we lost. And we moved on. And that worked both ways. I know what it is not to like the policies of a president. I get it. But don’t overdue it and make it so personal. Get on with it. Grow up. Do your job, you know? Do your job! Have respect for the office of the presidency.Don’t suddenly say executive orders are bad when the president you don’t like does it, but you don’t say one word when a Republican president does the same thing!“
Senator Boxer, you have taken all the words and all the thoughts I could muster up about the immigration debate right out of my mouth. Thank you for that impassioned speech which will no doubt send shivers through the Republican Party’s spine.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/02/25/barbara-boxer-slams-republicans/
Boxer starts out by lambasting them for their reckless disregard for national security over their threats to shut down the Department of Homeland Security because they don’t want to fund President Obama’s halted immigration action:
“This is a self-inflicted crisis, made up by the Republicans. It is dangerous, it is the height of irresponsibility, and it’s unnecessary…..At a time when we are facing serious threats to our national security, to furlough 30,000 Department of Homeland Security workers, and to force more than 100,000 front-line Homeland Security personnel to work without pay. [Yelling] Why don’t these Senators go without their pay? Give up your pay. You want to come to work everyday and stand there and look for threats to our homeland and worry about how you’re going to pay the bill for your kid? Go without pay.”
“Give up your pay! Give up your healthcare, give up your benefits, if this is so important to you. Oh, no, they’ll collect their pay!”
“They’re throwing a hissy fit because the President stepped in and has a policy to take care of immigration. And why did the President step in? Because Republicans refused to take up a bipartisan bill and pass it and take care of the immigration issue like they’re supposed to.”
Boxer took no prisoners as she shot back at the Republicans who used this in retaliation for President Obama’s immigration action, which she says should have nothing to do with funding the Department of Homeland Security. For that, she calls out the GOP on their “family values” BS:
“I thought they were the party of ‘family values.’ Show me where that’s true? Ripping families apart? I thought they were the party of ‘economic prosperity.’ Show me how that’s true, when we know from study after study that one of the greatest things we can do for our economy and job creation is get people out of the shadows so they can go buy a home and hold a good job. They (Republicans) can’t or won’t pass an immigration bill. They will not do their job. So when the president steps in and does his job, they say, ‘Oh,this is terrible! Let’s shutdown a totally unrelated department. The Department of Homeland Security.”
Boxer highlighted the real reason why the Republicans are causing this whole debacle in the first place — their irrational hatred for President Obama:
“Wake up and smell the roses. He is the President, and he is doing the right thing for America ’cause he loves America. And he understands that these are people who are going to help America move on to an era of greatness.”
“Our national security is at stake, our family values are at stake. And our economy is at stake here. So get over the fact that you don’t like the president. We get it. You couldn’t beat him. Too bad for you. But you’re in charge here, in the Senate. Do your job! Bring an immigration bill to the floor. Let’s let this Homeland Security Bill go. It’s a bipartisan bill. It’s funding for the most important thing we’re doing today. Let it go. Don’t hold it hostage to your hatred of this president, and I use that word because that’s what I think. That’s what I think.”
Tugging on the heart strings, Boxer told the Senate of her mother, an immigrant, who she believes would have been deported if politicians treated immigrants then as they do today:
“I mentioned before that I am the daughter of an immigrant mother. You know, I try to think of what my life would be without my mother. She gave me my conscience. She gave me my values. She gave me all the love and support I needed to pursue my dreams: the daughter of an immigrant mother who never graduated from high school, in the United States Senate! But they would have deported my mother.”
Finally someone said it for what it was. The only reason why Republicans have been the dangerous obstructionists they are, towards Obamacare, funding the government, passing meaningful jobs bills, etc. is because they hate him, they loathe him, and they want him to get no credit for doing anything great for this country. It resonates with our political discourse, in Congress and not. Boxer finished with what is on everyone’s mind:
“So I say to my Republican friends. There’s s presidential race coming. Forget this last one. Get over it. Okay? Let’s work together. Listen, I served with five presidents. I’m a strong Democrat. Everyone will tell you that. But I respect the office of the presidency. If I didn’t agree with Ronald Reagan, I came down here and said it. But we had the respect back and forth. If we lost, we lost. And we moved on. And that worked both ways. I know what it is not to like the policies of a president. I get it. But don’t overdue it and make it so personal. Get on with it. Grow up. Do your job, you know? Do your job! Have respect for the office of the presidency.Don’t suddenly say executive orders are bad when the president you don’t like does it, but you don’t say one word when a Republican president does the same thing!“
Senator Boxer, you have taken all the words and all the thoughts I could muster up about the immigration debate right out of my mouth. Thank you for that impassioned speech which will no doubt send shivers through the Republican Party’s spine.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/02/25/barbara-boxer-slams-republicans/
