Congress Quotes - Page 40

• John Boehner has to start taking a macro step towards the American people, away from the more radical elements of his party. You know, it's almost a form of anarchy. We have a law that was passed by Congress. We have a law that the Supreme Court said was legal. It's been implemented. And I'm sorry they don't like it. There's been a lot of laws in the past the Democrats didn't like. But that's what this country is about. You pass laws. And if they are deemed legal, you respect them and you move forward.

  Howard Bragman

  Country, Sorry, Party

  4 Copy quote

• Literally minutes before the Senate cast its vote, the administration sought to add the words 'in the United States and' after 'appropriate force' in the agreed-upon text. This last-minute change would have given the president broad authority to exercise expansive powers not just overseas-where we all understood he wanted authority to act-but right here in the United States, potentially against American citizens. I could see no justification for Congress to accede to this extraordinary request for additional authority. I refused.

  Tom Daschle

  Exercise, President, United States

  "Bush's NSA Hubris" by Matthew Rothschild, progressive.org. January 20, 2006.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Now, we are seeing many of these same companies face the truth about their financial standing. Congress is faced with the challenge of reforming our accounting industry and holding corporate executives responsible for their actions.

  Bennie Thompson

  Business, Challenges, Faces

  7 Copy quote

• I deny the right of Congress to force a slaveholding State upon an unwilling people. I deny their right to force a free State upon an unwilling people. I deny their right to force a good thing upon a people who are unwilling to receive it. The great principle is the right of every community to judge and decide for itself, whether a thing is right or wrong, whether it would be good or evil for them to adopt it; and the right of free action, the right of free thought, the right of free judgment upon the question is dearer to every true American than any other under a free government.

  Stephen A. Douglas

  War, Government, People

  Bob Blaisdell, Stephen A. Douglas (2012). “The Lincoln-Douglas Debates”, p.16, Courier Corporation

  47 Copy quote

  Show source

• Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.

  Abraham Lincoln

  War, Light, Honor

  Annual Message to Congress, 1 Dec. 1862

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• In the North, the sale of government bonds was the one measure for raising funds that seemed to work. Even that, however, with the lure of compounded interest to be paid in gold at a future date, failed to raise more than about half the needed amount. So the Union faced a real dilemma. The only options remaining were (1) terminate the war or (2) print fiat money. For Lincoln and the Republicans who controlled Congress, the choice was never seriously in doubt.

  G. Edward Griffin

  Real, War, Government

  10 Copy quote

• Thus these three amendments to the Constitution [13th, 14th, 15th] were ratified while the ten Southern states were under martial law, and "had no law at all." The Force Acts, the four Reconstruction Acts, and the Civil Rights Act were all passed by Congress while the Southern states were not allowed to hold free elections, and all voters were under close supervision by federal troops. Even Soviet Russia has never staged such mockeries of the election procedures.

  Eustace Mullins

  War, Russia, Rights

  18 Copy quote

• A hastily written "Civil Rights Act" was rushed through Congress. President Andrew Johnson immediately vetoed it, noting that the right to confer citizenship rested with the several states, and that "the tendency of the bill is to resuscitate the spirit of rebellion".

  Eustace Mullins

  War, Rights, President

  7 Copy quote

• However, as our brave men and women continue to return from the battlefields of the War on Terror, Congress must respond by enacting policies that meet the evolving needs of the veterans community.

  Randy Neugebauer

  War, Men, Community

  5 Copy quote

• It would be a big favor to political discourse; to our ability to do our work here in Congress; and to the American people, to be able to talk with each other and have some faith in their government and, more importantly, in their future.

  Jay Rockefeller

  Government, People, Political

  "Senator Jay Rockefeller Wishes FCC Would Shut Down Fox News". www.foxnews.com. November 18, 2010.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Because the Bush Administration will set no timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, both chambers of Congress acted to make sure our troops will not be left in Iraq indefinitely.

  Jan Schakowsky

  Iraq, Troops, Withdrawal

  16 Copy quote

• Congress is, after all, not a body of laymen unfamiliar with the commonplaces of our law. This legislation was the formulation of the two Judiciary Committees, all of whom are lawyers, and the Congress is predominately a lawyers' body.

  Felix Frankfurter

  Law, Two, Body

  "Callanan v. United States, 364 U.S. 587". U.S. Supreme Court case, supreme.justia.com. January 9, 1961.

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is plain that, when it comes to inferior officers, Congress itself can pass a law sending these nominees to the President with him having the authority to put them on the bench without the advice and consent of the Senate.

  John Jay Hooker

  Law, Advice, President

  10 Copy quote

• The first thing I plan to do is what I did while serving in Arizona’s legislature — and that was to seek out members that I often disagreed with on important issues. It was through our authentic relationships and mutual respect that we found common ground on legislation that helped people. The challenge for Congress is to move past the harsh partisanship that we saw in the last term. This is a critical step in advancing policies that will strengthen and protect LGBT families.

  Kyrsten Sinema

  Moving, Past, Issues

  7 Copy quote

• Even in Madison’s day, the practice of gerrymandering for partisan advantage was familiar. In the late seventeen-eighties, there were claims that Patrick Henry had tried to gerrymander Madison himself out of the First Congress. The term was coined during Madison’s Presidency, to mock Elbridge Gerry, the governor of Massachusetts, who in 1811 approved an election district that was said to look like a salamander.

  Jeffrey Toobin

  Practice, Looks, Massachusetts

  "Drawing the Line". www.newyorker.com. March 6, 2006.

  46 Copy quote

  Show source

• Congress has greatly tightened the loopholes terrorists can use to harm Americans. We need to do more. We need controls immediately on what forms of ID are adequate to board planes and enter secure sites.

  Elton Gallegly

  Boards, Needs, Use

  7 Copy quote

• My friends in the Congress, I have known Coretta King since I went south during the civil rights movement as a lawyer. She was a vibrant, consistent, totally dedicated partner with her husband.

  John Conyers

  Kings, Husband, Rights

  6 Copy quote

• Congress no longer declares war or makes budgets. So that's the end of the constitution as a working machine.

  Gore Vidal

  War, Machines, Constitution

  "America First? America Last? America at Last?". Lowell Lecture, Harvard University, April 20, 1992.

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• Community-based policing has now come to mean everything. It's a slogan. It has come to mean so many different things that people who endorse it, such as the Congress of the United States, do not know what they are talking about.

  James Q. Wilson

  Mean, Talking, People

  "No Easy Answers: An Interview with James Q. Wilson". Interview with William D. Eggers and John O'Leary, reason.com. February 1995.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  Alcee Hastings

  Horse, Hard Work, Accomplishment

  7 Copy quote

• And always remember, Abraham Lincoln only served one term in Congress, too.

  Allen West

  Remember, Abraham, Term

  "What Rep. Allen West And Obama Have In Common". "Tell Me More" with Michel Martin, www.npr.org. December 7, 2012.

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• I have already transmitted to Congress the report of the naval court of inquiry on the destruction of the battleship Maine in the harbor of Havana during the night of the fifteenth of February. The destruction of that noble vessel has filled the national heart with inexpressible horror. Two hundred and fifty-eight brave sailors and marines and two officers of our Navy, reposing in the fancied security of a friendly harbor, have been hurled to death, grief and want brought to their homes and sorrow to the nation.

  William McKinley

  Grief, Home, Heart

  Harry Joseph Sievers, William McKinley (1970). “William McKinley, 1843-1901: Chronology, Documents, Bibliographical Aids”, Oceana Publications

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• The real difficulty is with the vast wealth and power in the hands of the few and the unscrupulous who represent or control capital. Hundreds of laws of Congress and the state legislatures are in the interest of these men and against the interests of workingmen. These need to be exposed and repealed. All laws on corporations, on taxation, on trusts, wills, descent, and the like, need examination and extensive change. This is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people no longer. It is a government of corporations, by corporations, and for corporations.

  Rutherford B. Hayes

  Real, Men, Hands

  Diary entry. "Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes: Nineteenth President of the United States". Book edited by Charles Richard Williams, The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, March 11, 1888.

  86 Copy quote

  Show source

• If Congress were to pass a 'flat' tax, you'd simply pay a fixed percentage of your income, and you wouldn't have to fill out any complicated forms, and there would be no loopholes for politically connected groups, and normal people would actually understand the tax laws, and giant talking broccoli stalks would come around and mow your lawn for free, because Congress is NOT going to pass a flat tax, you pathetic fool.

  Dave Barry

  Talking, Law, People

  9 Copy quote

• We've got a dictatorial president and a Justice Department that does not want Congress involved. Your guy's acting like he's king. His dad was at a 90 percent approval rating and he lost! And the same thing can happen to him!

  Dan Burton

  Kings, Dad, Approval Rating

  8 Copy quote