Congress Quotes - Page 12

• [An] act of the Congress of the United States... which assumes powers... not delegated by the Constitution, is not law, but is altogether void and of no force.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Law, Void, United States

  Thomas Jefferson, H. A. Washington (2011). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private”, p.466, Cambridge University Press

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• If you give Congress a chance to vote on both sides of an issue, it will always do it.

  Les Aspin

  Humorous, Issues, Giving

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• Congress has really set this thing up in a way that they absolve themselves of blame, They have their scapegoats. They can blame the Pentagon. They can blame BRAC. It's hard for voters to say this is Ortiz's fault.

  Juan Carlos I of Spain

  Voters, Way, Faults

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• One of the most important virtues of the American character is our ability to approach the complexities that life presents us with common sense and decency, .. The considered judgment of the American people is not going to rise or fall on the fine distinctions of a legal argument but on straight talk and the truth. It is time for the president and the Congress to follow that common sense for the good of the country.

  Dick Gephardt

  Country, Fall, Character

  "Top Democrats rip Clinton's defense strategy". www.cnn.com. September 14, 1998.

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• We applaud Congress for extending equitable abortion coverage to female Peace Corps volunteers.

  Cecile Richards

  Volunteer, Abortion, Female

  "Peace Corps Volunteers to Finally Receive Same Abortion Coverage as Federal Employees" by Caitlin Moscatello, www.glamour.com. December 15, 2014.

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• It is important that the remaining scenic areas of the country be at once made into State or National Parks. Fortunately there still are a number of these wild places, but it will require effort to save them. Each Park proposed will have powerful and insidious opposition. The insidious opposition to National Parks will say, ‘There is a feeling in Congress that we should not have any more National Parks at this time’; or, ‘We should wait until present ones are improved.’

  Enos Mills

  Country, Powerful, Wild Places

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• The First Amendment's language leaves no room for inference that abridgments of speech and press can be made just because they are slight. That Amendment provides, in simple words, that "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." I read "no law . . . abridging" to mean no law abridging.

  Hugo Black

  Mean, Simple, Law

  Concurring opinion, Smith v. California, 361 U.S. 147, 1959.

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• Citizenship is no light trifle to be jeopardized any moment Congress decides to do so under the name of one of its general or implied grants of power.

  Hugo Black

  Light, Names, Citizenship

  "Afroyim v. Rusk, 387 U.S. 267 - 68". 1967.

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• It is hard for us to admit we have a sin nature because we live in this system of checks and balances. If we get caught, we will be punished. But that doesn't make us good people; it only makes us subdued. Just think about the Congress and Senate and even the president. The genius of the American system is not freedom; the genius of the American system is checks and balances. Nobody gets all the power. Everybody is watching everybody else. It is as if the founding fathers knew, intrinsically, that the soul of man, unwatched, is perverse.

  Donald Miller

  Father, Men, Thinking

  Donald Miller (2012). “Blue Like Jazz: Movie Edition: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality”, p.18, Thomas Nelson

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• The full consequences of a default or even the serious prospect of default by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate. Denigration of the full faith and credit of the United States would have substantial effects on the domestic financial markets and on the value of the dollar in exchange markets. The Nation can ill afford to allow such a result. The risks, the cost, the disruptions, and the incalculable damage lead me to but one conclusion: the Senate must pass this legislation before the Congress adjourns.

  Ronald Reagan

  Risk, Damage, Serious

  Letter to Majority Leader Howard Baker, November 16, 1983.

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• Congress shall never disarm any citizen unless such as are or have been in actual rebellion.

  James Madison

  Citizens, Rebellion, Has Beens

  James Madison, Gaillard Hunt, James Brown Scott (1999). “The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787: Which Framed the Constitution of the United States of America”, p.658, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.

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• I think the Supreme Court has, as an equal branch of government, the ability to overrule Congress and the president. But I also feel it's the role of the Congress and the president to push back. I mean I think it's important that they are understood as equal branches of government.

  Rick Santorum

  Mean, Thinking, Government

  Source: www.nbcnews.com

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• The Congress should not be creating money out of thin air, which is what Lincoln did when he created greenbacks. But it is a congressional responsibility to maintain gold and silver as a legal tender.

  Ron Paul

  Responsibility, Air, Creating

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

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• Congress would give the people what they wanted if the people knew what they wanted, and if Congress could give it to them.

  Evan Esar

  People, Giving, Wanted

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• Next time a man tells you talk is cheap, ask him if he knows how much a session of Congress costs.

  Evan Esar

  Men, Cost, Next

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• So the villains aren't gay-hating Islamists or women killing tyrants, but actually us: an American Congress bent on the apocalypse. Don't we understand? Iranians love their children too.

  Greg Gutfeld

  Children, Hate, Gay

  "Hollywood weighs in on Iran nuclear deal". "The Five" with Greg Gutfeld, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Julie Roginsky, Eric Bolling and Dana Perino, www.foxnews.com. July 29, 2015.

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• Every politician just has to remember how he got his position in the first place. A young candidate running for Congress or any outsider interested in public office could only achieve his goals by relying on soft power. They could not force anyone to vote for them. They needed to convince their potential voters, they needed to do fundraising, they needed to be attractive candidates.

  Joseph Nye

  Running, Fundraising, Goal

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that.

  Chris Christie

  Retirement, Program, States

  Primetime Republican Debate, Cleveland, time.com. August 7, 2015.

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• I would a whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but "Hell no" to this money going to a [Iran] regime that is going to use it for terror...

  Rick Perry

  Iran, Issues, Giving

  Source: www.cbsnews.com

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• What are the moral implications? What do these people do when they have tremendous amounts of money? They use that money to perpetuate their own wealth and their own power. Every day, Congress works on behalf of big-money interests.

  Bernie Sanders

  People, Use, Moral

  "A Socialist in the Millionaires’ Club: An Interview with Bernie Sanders". Interview with Ames Ridgeway, www.motherjones.com. November 20, 2006.

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• The function of traditional history is to create a citizenry that looks to the top - the president, Congress, the Supreme Court - to make the important decisions. That's what traditional history is all about: the laws that were passed, the decisions made by the court. So much of history is built around "the great men." All of that is very anti-democratic.

  Howard Zinn

  Men, Law, Decision

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• A man or a woman who serves the country with all his or her heart stands on par with the tallest Congress-man.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Country, Heart, Men

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• Destruction of the churches and the like is not the way to Swaraj as defined by the Congress.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Church, Way, Destruction

  Mahatma Gandhi (1958). “Collected Works”

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• A bogus Congress register can never lead you to Swaraj any more than a paper boat can help you to sail across the Padma.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Paper, Helping, Boat

  Mahatma Gandhi (1939). “Collected Works”

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• We had so many different presidents, including Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln - there were other founders like Hamilton, Adams - who made it very clear that the courts can't make a law. The Constitution is expressly clear that that's a power reserved to Congress.

  Mike Huckabee

  Law, President, Different

  "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos, abcnews.go.com. September 6, 2015.

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