Quotes from Dan Webster

We're not even supposed to have a break in August if we have not passed the appropriations bills. It's in the House rules.

The voters in District 8 shared our vision that Washington is broken, and we're going to go up there and fix it.

Let's take up the most important issues first. Let's take up the reauthorizations first; let's take up the appropriations bill first, not wait until four days beforehand - no one has mentioned anything, and, all of a sudden, somebody looks at their watch and says, 'Hey, in four days, the government is going to run out of money.'

I don't do anything political on Sundays.

It's different from Washington in that in the legislature, you have to go home and have a job and actually make a living on your own. That gives you a different perspective.

I'm a homing pigeon. When I'm in Tallahassee, I give everything I have to being, hopefully, the best legislator I can be. When I'm home, I'm home. I try to not do legislative stuff. That brings a balance to life.

My whole deal is I want to have a principle-based, member-driven caucus.

I'm a plodder, not a planner.

I found a mistake in a rule. They addressed the wrong rule number... I pointed it out, did an amendment, and everybody was happy after that.

Power says if you are a committee chairman, your idea is good only because you have got power.

The key is - I'll say the key - number one, I pray every day.

My expectations are not in any future event. I would rather just be prepared for whatever might take place.

What really promotes business in this country is liberty, not demand for information.

The policy is one thing, but it's dictated by what the process is.

As a former minority leader who became the first Republican Speaker of the House in Florida since Reconstruction, I know that leadership is not an easy task.

Power focuses on self-preservation; principle focuses on making ideas successful.

Principle says it's not who put forth an idea. It's not the position of the person who put forth an idea; it's not the longevity of the person or the party of the person. That's not what it is at all. In a power system, that's the way it works. But in a principle system, it's what it says.

I'm not an angry kind of person. What I am is a principled person.

If principles don't determine what you are going to pass or do, then power will.

We've got to prove that we can lead, and I'm going to be all-in to help prove that.

You can think of all the things a Congress or a legislature does, and then you kind of overshadow that with the fact that a few people are going to make those decisions.

Power tends to protect itself merely to maintain its own status and control. Principle gives up power for the sake of creating the best public policy.

Once we relieve them from sanctions, their economy opens up, and they can sell oil and pistachios and whatever else they sell around the world. That was why Iran needed a deal. Everyone knows they fund terrorism around the world. Having that extra money will add a lot of problems and create a lot more hot spots.

The process for producing public policy in Congress is flawed. The process itself kills policy ideas through the bypassing of the rules and procedural decisions that limit discussion.