Congress Quotes - Page 10

• [I]t is more convenient to prevent the passage of a law, than to declare it void after it has passed.

  James Madison

  Law, Void, Legislature

  James Madison (1904). “The Writings of James Madison: 1787-1790”

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• Does he [the president] possess the power of making war? That power is exclusively vested in Congress. . . . It is the exclusive province of Congress to change a state of peace into a state of war.

  William Paterson

  War, President, Doe

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• Congress seems drugged and inert most of the time... its idea of meeting a problem is to hold hearings or, in extreme cases, to appoint a commission.

  Shirley Chisholm

  Ideas, Hearing, Problem

  Shirley Chisholm (2010). “Unbought and Unbossed: Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition”, p.120, Take Root Media

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• A new study published by The British Medical Journal found that inactivity can kill you. I mean, these are the kind of findings that just scare the hell out of Congress.

  Jay Leno

  Mean, Scare, Medical

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• They say that women talk too much. If you have worked in Congress you know that the filibuster was invented by men.

  Clare Boothe Luce

  Women, Memorable, Politics

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• To hear some men talk of the government, you would suppose that Congress was the law of gravitation, and kept the planets in their places.

  Wendell Phillips

  Men, Law, Aggravation

  Wendell Phillips (1864). “Speeches, Lectures, and Letters”, p.305

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• Bureaucracy has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area and bureaucracy needs to stand trial before Congress today. So I'm asking Congress, please investigate this now. Take whatever idiot they have at the top of whatever agency, give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don't give me the same idiot.

  Aaron Broussard

  Caring, New Orleans, Agency

  "Senate Plans Hearings on Slow FEMA Response". "Day to Day" with Madeleine Brand, www.npr.org. September 7, 2005.

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• One of the challenges of any second-term administration is you always lose a certain amount of identification with the Congress, because everybody in the Congress in the first term knows you'll be out there in the next campaign with them, .. Your motives are always a little more suspect when you don't have to face the voters again.

  Roy Blunt

  Challenges, Next, Faces

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• Congress hasn't declared war on the countries - the majority of them are our allies - but without asking for public permission, NSA is running network operations against them that affect millions of innocent people. And for what? So we can have secret access to a computer in a country we're not even fighting?

  Edward Snowden

  Country, Running, War

  "Edward Snowden: NSA whistleblower answers reader questions". www.theguardian.com. June 17, 2013.

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• It's hard for the White House to regain momentum if the Congress is in disarray. It ties up the Republicans in Congress and limits their ability to execute any White House agenda.

  Calvin Jillson

  White, Ties, House

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• Congress has not raised the minimum wage since 1997. The minimum wage is now at its lowest level in 50 years adjusted for inflation.

  Russ Carnahan

  Years, Minimum Wage, Levels

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• I think all members of Congress are very concerned about the fact that, while we want to see our law enforcement agencies have every means they can possibly have to combat terrorism, we've got to remember that we've had a Constitution in place for 225 years, and it has served us well.

  Saxby Chambliss

  Mean, Thinking, Agency

  "Rep. Saxby Chambliss: Anti-terrorism measures in the U.S". CNN Chat Room, www.cnn.com. October 2, 2001.

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• It's not the function of Congress to do criminal investigations.

  Saxby Chambliss

  Criminals, Investigation, Function

  "Rep. Saxby Chambliss: Anti-terrorism measures in the U.S". CNN Chat Room, www.cnn.com. October 2, 2001.

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• Many hard comments have been made on my efforts in India from the side of the Congress party, yet I feel content in the deep conviction that the offer I traveled 22,000 miles to discuss with Indian leaders was a real contribution to a solution of our differences.

  Stafford Cripps

  Real, Party, Differences

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• I never thought I would run for Congress. If you look back at a certain reality TV show, you know that.

  Sean Duffy

  Running, Reality, Tv Shows

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• We all have a role to play - the President, Congress, parents, students and schools - in making college affordable and keeping the middle class dream alive.

  Arne Duncan

  Dream, School, College

  "Lower Student Loan Interest Rates" by Sec. Arne Duncan, www.huffingtonpost.com. April 27, 2012.

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• Once we secure our borders - and the federal government has not done a good job - then Congress, I believe, needs to take up the issue and look at how we try and identify those people that are here, that are national security risks to the United States.

  David Dewhurst

  Jobs, Believe, Issues

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• Ayman Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's deputy, as well as Abu Musab Zarqawi, have made it quite clear in their internal propaganda that they cannot win unless they can drive the Americans out. And they know that they can't do that there, so they've brought the battlefield to the halls of Congress.

  Geoff Davis

  Winning, Osama Bin Laden, Propaganda

  "House Republicans Respond to Murtha". Geoff Davis' remarks during news conference by House Republicans at the United States Capitol in Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., www.nytimes.com. November 17, 2005.

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• There are no ideas in the Republican Party right now in the Congress. They're the party of no. They desperately need some intellectual leadership. And whatever you think of Newt Gingrich, he can supply intellectual leadership. So I hope he does run.

  Howard Dean

  Running, Party, Thinking

  "Newt Gingrich, Howard Dean Talk Race, Economy and Elections". "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace, www.foxnews.com. July 25, 2010.

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• Well, dissent is the tradition in America, and I've been on the side of dissent a good bit of my career, particularly in the last many years of the Republican Congress.

  Lloyd Doggett

  Years, Careers, America

  "Interview with Rep. Lloyd Doggett". "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer, www.realclearpolitics.com. August 6, 2009.

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• I ran for Congress not because I was having a mid-life crisis. I left the private sector because I saw a looming financial crisis that was coming to this country. It's unsustainable.

  Steve Daines

  Country, Saws, Financial

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• There's a reason that students don't grade their own papers. There's a reason defendants don't sentence themselves. And there's the reason the State Department doesn't get to investigate itself, determine whether or not it made errors in Benghazi. That is Congress's job.

  Trey Gowdy

  Jobs, Errors, Paper

  "Gowdy to first-hand account Benghazi eyewitnesses: You will be protected". "On the Record" with Greta Van Susteren, www.foxnews.com. April 30, 2013.

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• 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.

  Jeff Greenfield

  Yield, Order, Southern

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• I think in politics, in Congress, you often do things that are Republican, or you do things because you're a Democrat. Sometimes that's good, obviously, and sometimes that's obviously bad. But in the news business, there's no such thing as Republican or Democratic news. News is news.

  J. C. Watts

  Business, Thinking, News

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• Senator, it has been reported that you have had illegal congress with your mother.

  Lou Reed

  Mother, Politics, Illegal

  Lou Reed (2008). “Pass Thru Fire: The Collected Lyrics”, p.392, Da Capo Press

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