Congress Quotes - Page 38

As we get closer to the end of this Congress, we should be addressing the urgent needs of the American people - the war in Iraq, affordable health care, a sensible energy policy, quality education for our children, retirement security, and a sound and fair fiscal policy.

Chris Van Hollen

Retirement, Children, War

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The retirement system that is in place for members of Congress and other federal workers features what is known as the Federal Employment Retirement Plan.

Virgil Goode

Retirement, Employment, Members

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I fully support President Bush's decision to strike Al Qaeda's terrorist network. Now more than ever, we must stand united as a nation and support our President and our military. It is important to remember that this carefully targeted response is not an attack on a religion, nor a nation, but an attack on terrorism. In Congress, we will continue to work with the White House to do what's needed to bring justice to those who committed the heinous and evil attacks of September 11.

Tom Harkin

Military, White, Evil

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I was as secretive - indeed, as furtive - as any conspirator. Discovery, we knew, simply must not happen, or else all our time and effort would be wasted. If it were to be exposed that our particular group had got together and written a banking bill, that bill would have no chance whatever of passage by Congress.

Frank A. Vanderlip

Discovery, Effort, Historical

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But, you know, there's another group that really runs the show. It's very shadowy, just as you've described... Those of us in the Congress of the United States are window dressing.

Virgil Goode

Running, Historical, Groups

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Today the path of total dictatorship in the United States can be laid by strictly legal means, unseen and unheard by the Congress, the President, or the people. Outwardly we have a Constitutional government. We have operating within our government and political system, another body representing another form of government - a bureaucratic elite.

William E. Jenner

Mean, Nwo, World Government

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The dirty little secret is that both houses of Congress are irrelevant. ... America's domestic policy is now being run by Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve, and America's foreign policy is now being run by the International Monetary Fund [IMF]. ...when the president decides to go to war, he no longer needs a declaration of war from Congress.

Robert Reich

Running, War, Dirty

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I served with General Washington in die Legislature of Virginia...and...with Doctor Franklin in Congress. I never heard neither of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the main point.

Thomas Jefferson

Doctors, Virginia, Speak

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The lack of health care coverage has remained very important to me during my time in Congress and as a member of the House Subcommittee on Health, I am working hard with my colleagues to correct these inequalities.

Paul Gillmor

Work, House, Important

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It is difficult to get Latina and Asian women to speak out. We must make it clear it's not their problem, it's our problem. We need magazines like this one to keep talking about the issue. And know that we women in Congress are with you 100 percent.

Juanita Millender-McDonald

Speaks Out, Talking, Issues

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The Israelis have a lot of influence with Congress, and in some cases they are able to buy influence.

Zbigniew Brzezinski

Able, Influence, Cases

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In the first 50 years of the filibuster, it was used only 35 times. But the last Congress alone had 112 cloture motions filed, plus threats of more.

This is the tyranny of the minority.

Peter Fenn

Years, Minorities, Lasts

"The tyranny of the minority" by Peter Fenn, www.politico.com. March 19, 2009.

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We have to change the system. The system is very rotten. The executive is corrupt, the Congress is corrupt, the judiciary is corrupt. ... So what's left We really have to have a radical and surgical change to bring back the image of our country.

Joseph Estrada

Country, Rotten, Radical

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In the United States large corporations control some members of Congress. All this does is delay the corporation’s funeral at our expense.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Funeral, United States, Doe

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2016). “Incerto 4-Book Bundle: Fooled by Randomness The Black Swan The Bed of Procrustes Antifragile”, p.536, Random House

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Trying to run Congress without human relationships is like trying to run a car without motor oil. Should we be surprised when the whole thing freezes up?

Jonathan Haidt

Running, Motor Oil, Car

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Oil and coal? Of course, it's a fungible commodity and they don't flag, you know, the molecules, where it's going and where it's not [...]. So, I believe that what Congress is going to do, also, is not to allow the export bans to such a degree that it's Americans that get stuck to holding the bag without the energy source that is produced here, pumped here.

Sarah Palin

Believe, Oil, Degrees

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I told the Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' on that Bridge to Nowhere.

Sarah Palin

Bridges, Thanks

Republican Vice Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, delivered 3 September 2008, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota

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But the Congress has made the determination that certain kinds of information can be protected even though the American people may want to have access to information.

Alberto Gonzales

Determination, People, May

Interview with Jim Lehrer, www.pbs.org. July 26, 2005.

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The only thing dumber than a Democrat or a Republican is when those pricks work together. You see, in our two-party system, the Democrats are the party of no ideas and the Republicans are the party of bad ideas. It usually goes something like this. A Republican will stand up in Congress and say, 'I've got a really bad idea.' And a Democrat will immediately jump to his feet and declare, 'And I can make it sh*ttier.'

Lewis Black

Party, Ideas, Two

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Elect us, hold us accountable, and make a judgment and then go from there. But I do tell you that if the Democrats win, and have substantial majorities, the Congress of the United States will be more bipartisan.

Nancy Pelosi

Winning, Majority, United States

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In coming to the Congress as a new Member and becoming a fellow Blue Dog, we have had an opportunity to share and really spend a great deal of time in examining the challenges that our Nation finds itself in in getting its fiscal house in order.

Jim Costa

Dog, Opportunity, Blue

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I am bound by the laws of the United States and all 50 states...I am not bound by any case or any court to which I myself am not a party...I don't think the Congress of the United States is subservient to the courts...They can ignore a Supreme Court ruling if they so choose.

Pat Robertson

Party, Thinking, Law

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Peace congresses often start by dealing with some of the less important questions in excessive detail, so at the end there is no time to discuss the most important problems.

Fredrik Bajer

Important, Details, Literature

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The aspect of congresses and such meetings generally to which I attach the greatest importance is the discussion. That is why people assemble: to hear different opinions, rather than to pass resolutions.

Fredrik Bajer

People, Different, Opinion

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There is one criticism which cannot be leveled at interparliamentary conferences but which is applicable to a great extent to peace congresses: the meetings waste time.

Fredrik Bajer

Criticism, Literature, Waste

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