Quotes from Blake Farenthold

The purpose of the criminal justice system is both to rehabilitate and to punish. If we can rehabilitate somebody, that's a huge, huge win.

We've got the power of the purse in the Congress.

I'm doing a good job in Washington.

I am running on the fact that I am doing a good job listening to people.

If you are just using the service to look at Web sites and download e-mail, then a DSL line may be cheaper. It is when you have more data going out that wireless can make a difference.

I've already composed and written a letter to the House administration telling them to withhold my paycheck in the event of a lapse of appropriations.

My constituents feel betrayed by the promise that Reagan made, that if we grant amnesty, we'll then secure the border. We obviously didn't do that.

My subcommittee will be thoroughly investigating this issue and demanding answers from Census officials on allegations that the Census Bureau is changing the wording of survey questions used to determine our nation's annual report on health insurance coverage.

I think a fair amount of my votes were 'not-for-Ortiz,' votes and I'm going to have to work hard to earn the 'for Blake' votes.

Do I have a reasonable expectation of privacy in any information that I share with a company? My Google searches? The emails I send? Do I have a reasonable expectation of privacy in anything but maybe a letter I hand deliver to my wife?

I will continue to fight to secure our borders and implement common sense policies aimed at reducing violence and the flow of illegal narcotics, firearms, people, and money across our borders.

As much as I hate to say it, what I'm coming to realize is that all we're really able to do is put the brakes on. Imagine going real fast in a Flintstones car, and my heel is out there. I went to Washington to change the world, and all I can do is put my heel out.

The government was built on compromising. And it's frustrating as hell.

We can't get serious about immigration reform until we stop people from crossing the border illegally.

Hillary Clinton and John Kerry have left the U.S. with better relations with Iran and Cuba and worse relations with allies like Israel.

My deal is you start as far to the right as you can get, and go to the conference committee with the Senate, and hopefully end up with something you can live with.

Sometimes you've got to make a hard decision, and there's a real reluctance to make hard decisions in Washington.

I'm a Texan - my idea of gun control is hitting what you aim at and nothing else.

I think anybody who's had an alcoholic in their life, or somebody with a drug problem, realizes that until things get bad enough, there's no incentive to change.

I think there's no problem getting through the House a pathway to legal status. A pathway to citizenship is going to be tougher, but I think it is potentially doable, if we can show the American people that the border is secure.

Historically, the Justice Department has been Congress' ally in fighting wrongdoing in government, but under this Justice Department and Eric Holder, rather than being the people's attorney, Eric Holder sees himself as the president's attorney and he'll do anything to defend the president.

It's said that you can tell a lot about someone by who opposes them. In the case of liberal pundit Bill Maher - a man who called America's actions cowardly in the wake of 9/11 and who mocked WWII veterans who wanted to visit the monument built in their honor - I wear his disapproval of me as a badge of honor.

Why is it every time there is a tragedy in the U.S., President Obama blames the gun rather than the criminal?

I cannot ignore this reality, and I encourage my all colleagues to join me in this fight to end modern day slavery in our own backyard.