I have an ability to work collegially across a wide range of interests in the caucus and in the Congress, and an ability to work on a bipartisan basis. Appropriators pride themselves on that.
When you’ve written 10 books and have six on the New York Times best-seller list – and four have been No. 1 – I think you have a right to be a member of Congress.
It is important that Congress works to promote home ownership in Indian Country. These federal housing funds and programs will help young Native American families to stay on tribal lands in order to live, work and raise a family.
Pigs are smarter than dogs, and both are smarter than Congress.
No man in America ever strove more, and more successfully first to bring about a Congress in 1765, and then to support it ever afterwards than myself.
An approach that phases in congressional term limits reconciles the self-interest of members of Congress with the public’s desire to see these changes enacted and gives us the best chance to make term limits a reality.
Congress had the opportunity to extend tax relief to working families without increasing the deficit. Instead, we were handed a bill that favors the wealthy and eliminates deductions that benefit the middle class.
No issue is more important to this Congress than securing our borders and protecting our homeland, and I guarantee it is very important to our constituents.
Increased and better screening for explosives is necessary – and Congress should fund it and TSA should implement it as quickly as possible – however that screening doesn’t reduce the risk posed by a trained terrorist with an unconventional weapon.
President Obama has repeatedly urged Congress to let the Bush tax cuts expire for those earning more than $250,000 a year. Increasing rates on top earners is an obvious way to raise revenue from those who can afford it most.
I found that there is very little interest in Washington for true election reform. That neither the White House nor either house of the Congress seems to be as committed to guaranteeing democratic participation in this country as we seem to be in other countries.
There were speeches made in Congress in the very last session before the outbreak of the Rebellion, so ferocious as to show that their authors were under the influence of a real frenzy.
It was not until the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s that Congress got serious about the assignment laid out in the post-Civil War amendments.
Historically, the minority party in Congress votes against raising the debt limit, forcing the majority party to whip its members into casting politically painful votes in favor.
See in old days, there were only two parties nationally, Congress and BJP… Now there are regional leaders. Time has come to pick up regional leaders in these national parties and build political campaign around them who can challenge regional parties.
When Congress legislates in haste, it often causes more problems than it solves. But Congress rarely reconsiders its mistakes.
Imagine if, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Gulf Coast residents had to wait on Democrats and Republicans to agree on cuts before receiving clean water or loans to rebuild. Congress’ negotiations often come slow or not at all.
Everybody on this floor wants to send the same loud and clear message: that Congress is united in its opposition to terror and we are all deeply concerned about the future and security of our close friend and ally, Israel.
There aren’t a whole lot of people out of 300 million who could elected to the Congress.
One of my big beliefs about Washington is that we highly overstate the power of individuals and highly underrate seeing Washington as a system, in general, but, in particular, we highly underrate the power of Congress.
Many counties in Maryland are above the average unemployment rate for both Maryland and the United States. We need representation in Congress who will make creating jobs the No. 1 priority so the people of Maryland can get back to work.
The BJP is trying to spread fire and violence across the country, and there is only one force that can stop it – the workers of the Congress and its leaders.
The American people need to tell their member of Congress that we need a strong defense to protect us and to prevent wars. We can’t get away with simply leading from behind and gutting our defenses.
The White House doesn’t create jobs. The government together – White House, Congress – creates policies that allow for greater job creation.
If Congress wanted to intervene with the Federal Reserve, well, we created the Federal Reserve. We could uncreate it. But would you want Congress regulating the money supply? We’d have drowned in inflation, or gone bankrupt, decades ago.
In Maine, we are fortunate to have a Clean Elections system that allows legislators to turn down corporate special interest money. At the national level, Congress should follow Maine’s example by empowering the voices of small donors.
Congress will pass a law restricting public comment on the Internet to individuals who have spent a minimum of one hour actually accomplishing a specific task while on line.
One thing I want to do is create something called Ring Around Congress. It would be a state deal and also a national thing, where the kids, as a field trip, will go and join hands around Congress and give the politicians report cards on how they’re voting on hunger issues.
F.D.R. had to deal with Southern segregationists – and outright racists – who held power in Congress, so he had to yield to that power in order to get his New Deal legislation passed.
Very few men are fortunate enough to gain distinction during their first term in Congress.
Remember, the Congress doesn’t get as many opportunities to make an impression with the public.
I mean, look, Nancy Pelosi said in the very beginning this is going to be the most open, honest and ethical Congress in history. And what we’re seeing is she’s breaking that promise every day.
If Americans want to see results instead of rhetoric, if taxpayers would like solutions instead of sound bites, and hard work instead of horse trading, I suggest you take a short look, and it won’t take much longer, at the accomplishments of this Congress.
Of course, the genesis of a good portion of the gridlock in Congress does not reside in Congress itself. Ultimate reform will require each of us, as voters and Americans, to take a long look in the mirror, because in many ways, our representatives in Washington reflect the people who have sent them there.
Congress suffers a great deal of criticism for its partisan acrimony. But while we may disagree politically, and air our opposition in this chamber, it is the conversation behind the scenes that cements and defines our relationships.
Persecution of Christians is growing around the world, and Congress needs to pay more attention to it.
The Republican Party is bringing out here onto the floor of Congress an all-out assault on the protection of the rights of people who work in the fields of our country, in the factories of our country, in the offices of our country.
I’ve thought about it, not a lot, but I thought my relationship with Congress – the Democrats and Republicans – would help me get some things done. Not everything, but at least they’d be willing to try.
I was proud to be an original cosponsor of the Violence Against Women Act when Congress passed it in 1994, and was proud to support the previous renewals in 2000 and 2005. These bills always enjoyed large, bipartisan support.
It is the duty of the President to propose and it is the privilege of the Congress to dispose.
Internal self-government under a local constitution was authorized by Congress and approved by the residents in 1952, but federal law is supreme in Puerto Rico and residents do not have voting representation in the Congress.
To put that into some perspective, when Bill Clinton and Al Gore had first taken the idea of the Kyoto Protocol up to the Congress, the United States Senate voted it down 95 to nothing.
Mandela drafted the M Plan, a simple, commonsense plan for organization on a street basis so that Congress volunteers would be in daily touch with the people, alert to their needs and able to mobilize them.
Developing compassion for Congress and politicians is a good way to begin practicing the new social activism if you want to make effective changes in the world. Perhaps the most startling new insight of all is that there is no other way to effectively change the world.
The longer we go without strong leadership from the Administration and until we see significant progress in the day-to-day lives of the Iraqi people, the more difficult it will become to sustain the support of the American people and Congress for the current course.
Congress seems to want to cure every ill known to man except unconstitutional government and high taxes.
Whether we like it or not, men have more of the offices, more of the higher jobs, more of the seats in Congress. Men need to re-examine what their power is. We need to understand how to use it.
Congress is headed in the wrong direction with this bill which removes any and all incentives from the food industry to improve their products for children.
In Congress, there are some who are unashamed to aspire to eloquence, even to scholarship, but the only state legislator I ever knew who would not join in the mispronounceciation of a word for the sake of camaraderie with her fellows was former State Senator and Congresswoman Barbara Jordan.
