Congress Quotes - Page 36

• Our tenet ever was . . . that Congress had not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but were restrained to those specifically enumerated; and that, as it was never meant that they should provide for that welfare but by the exercise of the enumerated powers, so it could not have been meant they should raise money for purposes which the enumeration did not place under their action.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Exercise, Purpose, Action

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence and Papers, 1816-1826”, p.72, Cosimo, Inc.

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• But the Chief Justice says, 'There must be an ultimate arbiter somewhere.' True, there must; but does that prove it is either party? The ultimate arbiter is the people of the Union, assembled by their deputies in convention, at the call of Congress or of two-thirds of the States. Let them decide to which they mean to give an authority claimed by two of their organs. And it has been the peculiar wisdom and felicity of our Constitution, to have provided this peaceable appeal, where that of other nations is at once to force.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Party, Mean, Two

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, cont”, p.298

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• You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress will do every thing they can to assist you in this wise intention.

  George Washington

  Wise, Jesus, Art

  George Washington (1997). “Writings”

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• The danger of silent accumulations & encroachments by Ecclesiastical Bodies have not sufficiently engaged attention in the U.S. [...] Besides the danger of a direct mixture of Religion & civil Government, there is an evil which ought to be guarded against in the indefinite accumulation of property from the capacity of holding it in perpetuity by ecclesiastical Corporations. [...] The establishment of the chaplainship to Congs. is a palpable violation of equal rights, as well as of Constitutional principles.

  James Madison

  Rights, Government, Evil

  "Monopolies. Perpetuities. Corporations. Ecclesiastical Endowments". Essay by James Madison, founders.archives.gov. Circa January 31, 1820.

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• I consider it…as subverting the fundamental and characteristic principle of the Government…and as bidding defiance to the sense in which the Constitution is known to have been proposed, advocated, and adopted. If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one.

  James Madison

  Government, Principles, Bidding

  James Madison (1867). “1769-1793”, p.546

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• All the public business in Congress now connects itself with intrigues, and there is great danger that the whole government will degenerate into a struggle of cabals.

  John Quincy Adams

  Struggle, Government, Degenerates

  John Quincy Adams (2017). “John Quincy Adams: Diaries 1779-1821”, p.564, Library of America

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• I will leave the U.S Congress when the term for which I was elected expires in January 2011 and return to the practice of law with a sense of duty fulfilled

  Mario Diaz-Balart

  Law, Practice, Return

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• He obtained from Congress the right to borrow from the people by selling to it the 'bonds' of States ... and the Government and the nation escaped the plots of the foreign financiers. They understood at once, that the United States would escape their grip. The death of Lincoln was resolved upon.

  Otto von Bismarck

  Government, People, United States

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• The Congress has historically played covert communal politics in order to create what in India we call vote banks where you pit one community against another and so on in order to secure votes.

  Arundhati Roy

  Order, Community, India

  "Arundhati Roy On the Indian Elections, Her Support for the Iraqi Resistance & the Privatization of War". "Democracy Now!" with Amy Goodman, www.commondreams.org. May 20, 2004.

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• We must start now to provide additional stimulus to the modernization of American industrial plants I shall propose to the Congress a new tax incentive for businesses to expand their normal investment in plant and equipment.

  John F. Kennedy

  Incentives, Normal, Investment

  Kennedy, John F. (1962). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1961”, p.88, Best Books on

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• No country can possibly move ahead, no free society can possibly be sustained, unless it has an educated citizenry whose qualities of mind and heart permit it to take part in the complicated and increasingly sophisticated decisions that pour not only upon the President and upon the Congress, but upon all the citizens who exercise the ultimate power.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Moving, Heart

  Kennedy, John F. (1964). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963”, p.446, Best Books on

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• I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency.

  Dan Quayle

  Jack Kennedy, Presidency

  Vice-presidential candidates' debate, October 5, 1988.

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• The Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I'll say no, and they'll push, and I'll say no, and they'll push again and I'll say to them, read my lips, no new taxes.

  George H. W. Bush

  Lips, Taxes, Raises

  1988 Republican National Convention Acceptance Address, delivered 18 August 1988, Superdome, New Orleans, LA

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• We've had a Congress that's spent money like John Edwards at a beauty shop.

  Mike Huckabee

  Beauty Shop, Shops

  Mike Huckabee (2008). “Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America”, p.52, Penguin

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• Five people in robes said they are bigger than the voters of California and Congress combined. And bigger than God. May He forgive us all.

  Mike Huckabee

  God, California, People

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• And that's the mission of The Innocence Project in New York, is to exonerate people who have been wrongfully convicted, and also work from a policy angle with Congress and state legislatures to prevent future wrongful convictions.

  John Grisham

  New York, People, Innocence

  "Piers Morgan Tonight", www.cnn.com. December 9, 2011.

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• I don't want to talk about intelligence matters. I will say, however, that intelligence-community estimates should not become public in the way of this city and in the way of Congress.

  Warren Christopher

  Cities, Community, Want

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• They [Democrats in Congress] believe in communism. They believe and have called for a revolution. You're going to have to shoot them in the head. But warning, they may shoot you.

  Glenn Beck

  Believe, Warning, May

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• 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.

  Ezra Klein

  Belief, Individual, Bigs

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• To put it another way: a conference is an elite meeting on equal terms; a congress is a group of elites meeting on opposite terms; a convention is a mob meeting on equal terms; a course is an elite instructing a mob; and a colloquium is a group capable of considering all these phenomena.

  Malcolm Bradbury

  Opposites, Way, Groups

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• It's time to replace career politicians with citizen's politicians. It's time to elect people who are going to stand up to the Washington elite and stand up to a White House and Congress hell-bent on ramming socialism down our throat

  Christine O'Donnell

  Careers, White, People

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• I will continue to fight for legislation that forces Congress to read the bills! I will fight for a vote on my bill that calls for a waiting period for each page of legislation. I will continue to object when Congress sticks special interest riders on bills in the dead of night! And if Congress refuses to obey its own rules, if Congress refuses to pass a budget, if Congress refuses to read the bills, then I say: Sweep the place clean. Limit their terms and send them home!

  Rand Paul

  Home, Fighting, Night

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• Returning to power in northern India is very important for the Congress party. No magic wand will work. We have to make our efforts. It will be a long and difficult struggle for us.

  Sonia Gandhi

  Party, Struggle, Long

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• Economic and military power can be developed under the spur of laws and appropriations. But moral power does not derive from any act of Congress. It depends on the relations of a people to their God. It is the churches to which we must look to develop the resources for the great moral offensive that is required to make human rights secure, and to win a just and lasting peace.

  John Foster Dulles

  Peace, Military, Winning

  John Foster Dulles (1960). “The Spiritual Legacy of John Foster Dulles: Selections from His Articles and Addresses”, Philadelphia : Westminister Press

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• Congress voted for tougher laws on corporations. So now when a corporation buys a senator, they need a receipt.

  Jay Leno

  Law, Political, Needs

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