Top 40 Tim Griffin Quotes

I love serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, and I have especially enjoyed my time on the Ways and Means Committee.

We have decided that now is the time for me to focus intently on my top priority, my family, as Elizabeth and I raise our two young children. To that end, I will not seek reelection to a third term.

The framers never intended an infinitely broad Commerce Clause that would let Congress dictate individuals’ purchases.

Historically, Congress hasn’t paid much attention to the confines the Constitution establishes.

I will complete my second term, but I have made no decision as to my plans after Congress except that I will continue in public service, including as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve.

Pipelines are the safest way to move oil.

We are the ones that are trying to get Washington spending under control so it can live within its means.

I grew up when ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ taught millions of American kids how a bill becomes a law.

The debate on healthcare was not done like most of our conferences are done – meaning it was not all on television. There was this procedural feeling that the bill wasn’t done thoroughly and didn’t reflect peoples’ wishes. It’s not coincidence that upwards of 60 percent of folks in my district are against it.

The Europeans waited so long that they are impacting people who depend on their pensions. We are still early enough to fix it for the next generation. A few states have started scaling back their programs, while others have come hat in hand for billion-dollar federal bailouts.

I am very practical.

I’m not going to run for Senate and I’m not going to run for Governor. I’d like to put those rumors to rest.

I had someone call me this morning telling me they had somebody who would only work a certain number of hours a week because if they worked too many hours a week, then they couldn’t get their government assistance.

Instead of cutting waste, the Obama Administration is hurting workers. President Obama should stop protecting wasteful government spending.

We can’t reform mandatory spending in this area until we first deal with ours. I tell my colleagues, ‘Let’s get the moral high ground and demonstrate that we want to make changes to our pension, and then we can deal with the big problems.’

We’ve got teams and other countries have teams. Right now, we are going to their countries; we’re finding the best athletes; we’re bringing them to our team. We’re training them, we’re making them awesome, and sending them back to beat us. We’ve got to stop that.

I’m in the gym every morning and have lockers by Democrats. You know, I don’t ask person X or person Y to go out to dinner. Not because they’re bad people – I just have very little in common with them.

But here’s the bottom line, the president of the United States, he controls the bully pulpit, he can talk about anything he wants to talk about.

I believe 2014 will be another historic year for conservatives in Arkansas, and I stand ready to help with that effort and make sure a conservative wins the 2nd Congressional District.

Working at the White House is an honor for any preacher’s kid from Magnolia, but the issue is jobs.

It’s not fair that people save and work and pay for phones from whatever funds they have, and other people get them for free.

Telling people more about yourself and distinguishing yourself from your opponent – they’re both essential parts of communicating with voters.

I believe our health care system is in drastic need of innovative, patient-centered reforms that encourage competition and increase consumer choice, not the bloated bureaucracy, tax increases, rationing, and mandates in the president’s government takeover.

My whole deal is reforming, changing, shaking up Washington. It sure needs it.

The health care law’s individual mandate forces nearly all individuals to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. The mandate cannot be severed from the rest of the law because it is the primary mechanism through which the law’s changes are supported. Without the mandate, the law collapses.

So far, Senate Republicans are good at getting Facebook likes and town halls and not much else. Do something.

I think if you look all across the country, the so-called Blue Dogs are all gone to kennel. There are no more Blue Dogs, they’re called Republicans. People would rather elect consistently conservative Republicans than Blue Dogs, who are only conservative when it’s convenient.

Most private-sector folks don’t get a pension.

I wasn’t elected to avoid conflict. I was elected to represent the people of the 2nd District.

I go home every weekend to see my family.

When I looked at it and did my homework on this issue, I concluded that a flat tax is better than a consumption tax.

I love my service; I’m going to finish my four years and be very proud of it.

We can’t be paying pensions to the next generation of federal workers when hardly anyone in the private sector gets them.

During my childhood, my father, a Southern Baptist minister, and my mother, a teacher, made sure I took educational trips to cities such as Washington, D.C., Williamsburg, Va., Philadelphia, and Boston to learn about America’s history.

There is nothing better than just policies that say, ‘Come on: grow your jobs here.’

Instead of more talk about salmon and high-speed rails, more criticism of the Supreme Court or more praise for the Soviet’s Sputnik mission – President Obama should use his State of the Union Address to tell the American people the truth about the fundamental financial challenges our country faces.

People say, ‘Well everybody needs a cellphone.’ Well, what does ‘need’ mean? Do you need an iPad? How about a computer? A printer?

While others may get distracted, I will continue to focus on the problem of unemployment and seek to help create good, high-paying jobs for Arkansans.

Serving the people of Arkansas’ 2nd District is the honor of a lifetime, and I’m grateful for the opportunity I have been given by my fellow Arkansans.

While I am talking about private sector job creation, the cap-and-trade energy tax, Speaker Pelosi’s health-care bill and card-check legislation, Washington Democrats are defending groups like ACORN. They are on the wrong side of the issues and know their views are wrong for Arkansas, so they attack me.