Legislation Quotes - Page 23

• Another advantage accruing from this ingredient in the constitution of a senate, is the additional impediment it must prove against improper acts of legislation. No law or resolution can now be passed without the concurrence first of a majority of the people, and then of a majority of the states.

  James Madison

  Law, People, Federalism

  Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison (2018). “America's Founding Documents: The Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the United States Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the Bill of Rights”, p.403, First Avenue Editions

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• I'm not a feminist,' some women say sternly as they march off to work where equal opportunity legislation protects them ... Women who say they are not feminists and act like individuals with basic human rights have just got their terminology wrong.

  Kaz Cooke

  Opportunity, Rights, Feminist

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• I've been through legislation creating a dozen national parks, and there's always the same pattern. When you first propose a park, and you visit the area and present the case to the local people, they threaten to hang you. You go back in five years and they think it's the greatest thing that ever happened.

  Mo Udall

  Thinking, Years, Creating

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• Peace cannot come by legislation or through affiliation with any political philosophy...Peace, joy, and happiness can come only through an acceptance of God's revealed plan of life.

  Theodore M. Burton

  Philosophy, Acceptance, Joy

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• The notion that Americans can be protected from "terror" by giving up the Bill of Rights is absurd. Democrats are complicit in this absurd notion. Many were intimidated into voting for police state legislation, because they lacked the intestinal fortitude to call police state legislation by its own name. The legislation that has been passed during the Bush regime is far more dangerous to Americans than Muslim terrorists.

  Paul Craig Roberts

  Giving Up, Names, Rights

  "Will the Democrats Become Part of the Problem?". www.informationclearinghouse.info. November 9, 2006.

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• The Children's Health Insurance Program has given Democrats a wide-open door for socialized medicine. The door was left open by Republicans, who were in the majority when we passed the original legislation in 1997.

  Jack Kingston

  Children, Doors, Medicine

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• It's hard to believe that in the greatest democracy in the world, we need legislation to prevent the government from writing and paying for the news.

  John F. Kerry

  Believe, Writing, Government

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• It is quite clear from what has been said and written that, time after time after time, there has been a conspiracy between the Conservative Front Bench in this House and the inbuilt Conservative majority in the House of Lords to defeat legislation that has passed through the House of Commons... I warn the House of Lords of the consequences... it is our strong view that the House of Lords should recall that its role is not that of a wrecking chamber, but of a revising chamber. In recent weeks, it has been wrecking legislation passed by this House.

  James Callaghan

  Strong, Views, House

  James Callaghan's speech on economic policy in the House of Commons, api.parliament.uk. November 9, 1976.

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• Our capitol punishment system is haunted by the demon of error- error in determining guilt, error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die... The legislation couldn't reform it. Lawmakers won't repeal it. I won't stand for it. I had to act... I am commuting the sentences of all death row inmates.

  George Ryan

  Animal, Errors, Punishment

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• Almost all gun control legislation is constitutionally fine. And, if the court is right, then fundamentalism does not justify the view that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms.

  Cass Sunstein

  Gun, Views, Second Amendment

  "Founding Fathers vs. Today's Progressives" by Glenn Beck, www.foxnews.com. October 30, 2009.

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• Legislation needs a better reason than that lawyers like it, and that America does it.

  Lawrence Lessig

  America, Doe, Needs

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• I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is "needed" before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible.

  Barry Goldwater

  Mean, Government, Law

  Barry Morris Goldwater, C. C. Goldwater (2007). “The Conscience of a Conservative”, p.15, Princeton University Press

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• The 2014 election has given the GOP the rare opportunity to retroactively redeem its brand. The conventional perception, incessantly repeated by Democrats and the media, is that Washington dysfunction is the work of the Party of No. Expose the real agent of do-nothing. Show that, when Harry Reid can no longer consign House-passed legislation to oblivion, Congress can actually work.

  Charles Krauthammer

  Real, Party, Opportunity

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• Pass legislation. When Obama signs, you've shown seriousness and the ability to govern. When he vetoes, you've clarified the differences between party philosophies and prepared the ground for 2016.

  Charles Krauthammer

  Philosophy, Party, Differences

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• If the president signs any of it, good. If he vetoes, it will be clarifying. Who then will be the party of no? The vetoed legislation would become the framework for a 2016 GOP platform. Let the debate begin.

  Charles Krauthammer

  Party, President, Notable

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• Our military service members put their lives on the line to protect the rights and freedoms of all Americans - yet many still face substantial roadblocks as they attempt to cast their ballots...This legislation begins to right this national disgrace.

  John Cornyn

  Military, Rights, Lines

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• A good place to start a more civil dialog would be for my Republican colleagues in the House to change the name of the bill they have introduced to repeal health care reform. The bill, titled the "Repeal the Job Killing Health Care Law Act," was set to come up for a vote this week, but in the wake of Gabby's shooting, it has been postponed at least until next week. Don't get me wrong - I'm not suggesting that the name of that one piece of legislation somehow led to the horror of this weekend - but is it really necessary to put the word "killing" in the title of a major piece of legislation?

  Chellie Pingree

  Jobs, Stupid, Weekend

  "For Gabby’s Sake, Republicans Should Change the Name of Their Health Care Repeal Bill" by Chellie Pingree, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 09, 2011.

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• As a rule of thumb. Congressional legislation that is bipartisan is usually twice as bad as legislation that is partisan.

  Thomas Sowell

  Thumbs, Partisans, Bipartisan

  Thomas Sowell (2013). “Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays”, p.334, Hoover Press

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• Industries are fearful of legislation. But if you start in the marketplace and forge a solution, you get a lot less resistance - and often a more flexible approach.

  Cary Sherman

  Resistance, Approach, Fearful

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• Certainly, if we believe in democracy and democratic systems, when [Benazir Bhutto] failed to pass any legislation, really, at all in her first two years in government during her first term and in fact had a tenure that was marked not only by gross corruption but by human rights abuses, that should have been a time for people to say, "Well, OK, we've given you an opportunity and you haven't bettered the institutions, you haven't strengthened the democratic cause - we may not vote you back."

  Fatima Bhutto

  Believe, Opportunity, Government

  Source: www.sbs.com.au

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• Were I to define the British constitution, therefore, I should say, it is a limited monarchy, or a mixture of the three forms of government commonly known in the schools, reserving as much of the monarchical splendor, the aristocratical independency, and the democratical freedom, as are necessary that each of these powers may have a control, both in legislation and execution, over the other two, for the preservation of the subject's liberty.

  John Adams

  School, Government, Two

  John Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1851). “The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations”, p.480

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• If the foundation of a well-ordered society is a healthy, happy home, then the problem of lawlessness will not be solved by more laws or legislation; but by fathers and mothers exerting a moral influence and example in their own families, tempered with love and understanding.

  J. Spencer Kinard

  Mother, Father, Home

  J. Spencer Kinard (1976). “The worth of a smile: spoken words for daily living”, Prentice Hall

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• The success of this Government, and thus the success of our Nation, depends in the last analysis upon the quality.of our career services. The legislation enacted by the Congress, as well as the decisions made by me and by the department and agency heads, must all be implemented by the career men and women in the Federal service. In foreign affairs, national defense, science and technology, and a host of other fields, they face problems of unprecedented importance and perplexity. We are all dependent on their sense of loyalty and responsibility as well as their competence and energy.

  John F. Kennedy

  Loyalty, Responsibility, Technology

  "Special Message to the Congress on Federal Pay Reform". February 20, 1962.

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• The purpose of establishing different houses of legislation is to introduce the influence of different interests or different principles.

  Thomas Jefferson

  House, Political, Principles

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

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• While legislation can stimulate and encourage, the real creative ability which builds up and develops the country, and in general makes human existence more tolerable and life more complete, has to be supplied by the genius of the people themselves. The Government can supply no substitute for enterprise.

  Calvin Coolidge

  Country, Real, Government

  Calvin Coolidge (1925). “America's Need for Education: And Other Educational Addresses”

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