Top 40 Lawmakers Quotes

Susan Brooks is a hard-working public servant who has spent her career fighting for Hoosiers. In Congress, she was the first woman from Indiana to chair a committee, and has become one of the most effective lawmakers in Washington: her dedicated work on behalf of her constituents and our state will be missed.

America draws tremendous strength from its diversity, which prompts the question, as Congress contemplates comprehensive immigration reform, why are some lawmakers aiming to curb diversity instead of promoting it?

I’m knocking our pitiful, pathetic lawmakers.

Congress is where Americans are supposed to have our big, messy political fights. That’s because the people who make the laws need to be hired and fired by the people. Don’t like the laws? Fire the lawmakers.

Lawmakers imagine they can be political heroes by voting for budgets that slash scientific research by 20 percent, but they inhibit our ability to respond to health crises.

Around the nation, lawmakers have drawn up their districts with such perverse precision and aversion to competition, that legislators rarely face competitive challenges.

I’m proud that many of Missouri’s lawmakers stood strong to protect the lives of the innocent unborn and women’s health.

Federal lawmakers need to change the rules so that vehicles converted to use new fuels can be put on the road; the only restriction should be that they pass the same standard state tests that all other cars do.

Lawmakers who interfere with commerce and the normal creation of jobs in an economy run the risk of doing harm rather than good. Unintended consequences from regulating or legislating to achieve a goal can occur and cause havoc in the markets or an economy.

The American people are much more practical than Republican lawmakers on equal pay, on the minimum wage, on same-sex marriage, and on basic civil rights.

One of the things I love most about the Capitol Hill beat is that I have regular access to the lawmakers I cover.

We need to pressure lawmakers to hold hearings on pending mergers, and pressure federal and state enforcers to use their full powers.

To dissociate politicians from capitalists is slightly disingenuous, to put it mildly. U.S. lawmakers are competitive and auction themselves to the highest bidder via the lobby system.

Gays and lesbians gained rights in this country though activism and organizing, creating political space and demanding change so that lawmakers and justices could do what they knew was right. That organizing allowed Americans to get to know gays and lesbians as our daughters and sons, our neighbors, and our friends.

It is not in our interest to sign economic policy agreements with the IMF, as that unnecessarily limits the room to manoeuvre of… the Hungarian government, Hungarian parliament and lawmakers.

Judges should always behave judicially by adjudicating, never politically by legislating. I leave policy to policymakers. They’re preeminent, but they’re not omnipotent. In other words, lawmakers decide if laws pass, but judges decide if laws pass muster.

U.S. lawmakers should take a firm and principled stand consistent with their rhetoric about the importance of human rights and democracy in Egypt.

Listen, we all have to agree that there is too much litigation going on in this world. But every year it seems to multiply tenfold. Why can’t we stop it? Well, it’s because the lawmakers in Congress and the Senate are almost all lawyers, too!

If you look at the Affordable Care Act, ultimately that was saved not solely by lawmakers but because of the courage of individuals and families who went to Washington, who organized, who mobilized and said ‘We’re not turning around.’

Lawmakers need to be better stewards of policy and update it, not just keep adding on top of old laws.

Congress has an obligation to make controversial decisions on how to handle undocumented immigration. Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have refused to take the tough votes on the issue for decades. Whether it’s been to take advantage of cheap labor or for political purposes, both sides are guilty.

Whatever their motivations, lawmakers on both side of the aisle have certainly discovered that immigration is one of those issues that resonate strongly with the public.

Undoubtedly, Mexico’s crime-related problems have become a focus of attention among lawmakers, law enforcement, and the media in the United States.

Here’s the perversity of Wall Street’s psychology: The more Wall Street is convinced that Washington will act rationally and raise the debt ceiling, most likely at the 11th hour, the less pressure there will be on lawmakers to reach an agreement. That will make it more likely a deal isn’t reached.

If everyone in America can easily see who and what their lawmakers are requesting taxpayer money for, we can keep elected officials honest, end the days of political, special interest favors, and reduce wasteful spending.

We love the ability of the people to influence the actions of decision-makers, of lawmakers and presidents to be removed from or elevated to office by the will of voters, and of the community to connect amongst diverse populations through the ballot box.

Lawmakers in both political parties have often acceded to unions’ requests to avoid political confrontations or to curry favor. They have pushed difficult choices into the future.

Yesterday I, along with a bipartisan Congressional Delegation of lawmakers, inspected the detention facilities at Guantanamo used to house individuals detained in the War on Terrorism.

The Millennial Generation is being crushed by soaring college costs and student loan debt, and as lawmakers, we must find solutions to address affordability and flexibility in higher education.

I guess what bothers me so much about what I now see going on in both Washington and in Texas is an effort to keep people from finding out about the mistakes of lawmakers and then when they’re uncovered, an effort to fool people and pretend there was nothing wrong.

Obama prefers to look forward, not back, as he has stated. So at least during his tenure, there will be no reliable record compiled as a cautionary tale for lawmakers and presidents in future times of crisis. This is the historical Obama.

There are online forms you can fill out to send to your lawmakers, demanding that nothing – nothing at all or in any way – be done about any guns whatever, anywhere.

Lawmakers who support CISA will tell you the bill includes some privacy protections. They’re right. But these ‘protections’ are superficial and include broad loopholes that are so far-reaching as to render the protections meaningless.

Keeping our children safe is not only an area where both political parties can find common ground, but as lawmakers, it is our moral obligation.

When I’m standing in front of all those lawmakers in the European Parliament, then I’m a speaker, when I’m singing, I’m a singer. If I’m on the catwalk, then I’m being a model. That can all happen in one week or even on the same day.

It is much to be wished that one had a post that knew what it was doing again; and lawmakers that knew what they were doing. If I were the Government, I should feel rather ashamed of making regulations one month and unmaking them the next.

When lawmakers start to make laws that hurt single women, often the women that they’re hurting the most are not the economically powerful ones. They’re not Sandra Fluke. They’re not Lena Dunham, who conservatives hate more than anybody. They’re hurting low-earning single mothers.

What if lawmakers never spoke to their constituents? Oddly enough, that’s exactly how corporate America operates. Shareholders vote for directors, but the directors rarely, if ever, communicate with them.

As state and federal lawmakers debate the country’s energy policies and Colorado’s role in the ever-expanding energy economy, let’s hope they remember that unnecessary regulations stifle growth while doing nothing for public safety or health.

Amendments occupy a great deal of most legislators’ time, particularly those lawmakers in the minority. Members of Congress do author major bills, but more commonly they make minor adjustments to the bigger bill.