Quotes About Congress

The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.

The failings in Afghanistan don't fall on the shoulders of the American service personnel trying to complete their mission. The failure falls on military leadership unable to adapt to irregular warfare, and a Congress that blindly continues to fund failure.

The need to do something about global warming is obvious. And it's also pretty clear that the public understands the need for change and is ready to embrace it. What is missing is political will in Congress to stand up to the powerful energy companies and their well-paid lobbyists.

It's not all Obama's fault: His plans to rebuild America's energy infrastructure have been hampered by the recession, and his efforts on global warming have been stymied by Tea Party wackos and weak-kneed Democrats in Congress.

History will judge Senator Inhofe. You know he has a lot or responsibility on his hands for keeping any kind of movement and serious, meaningful action on global warming happening in the Congress.

What I did warn about when I testified in front of Congress in 2002, I said if you want to worry about a state, it shouldn't be Iraq, it should be Iran. But this government, our administration, wanted to worry about Iraq, not Iran.

I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and to the ruin of our children. I give you this warning that you may prepare your mind for your fate.

If a gigantic asteroid were barreling toward impact with our planet, you can bet there would be at least a few members of Congress who would insist on leaving it alone, either because they would see it as a warning shot from the Almighty or because a mining company with a savvy team of lobbyists had laid claim to the big rock.

But people ought to be proud to be Democrats right now. You know, we're a happy warrior party. And this Congress has every reason to be very, very proud of the heavy lifting that they have done.

The American people need to tell their member of Congress that we need a strong defense to protect us and to prevent wars. We can't get away with simply leading from behind and gutting our defenses.

Obama was elected on a slogan of hope and change because both were in short supply: the military exhausted by two wars, the banks failing their public trust, the U.S. Congress a comedy of dysfunction, and a federal government that seemed designed to idle on the sidelines.

When Congress passed the Authorization for the Use of Military Force immediately after the 9/11 attacks, no one could have imagined this authorization would continue to be the basis for American wars that persist a decade and a half later.

I have noticed, with much distress, the excessive wartime activity of the investigating bureaus of Congress and the administration, with their impertinent and indecent searching out of the private lives and the past political beliefs of individuals.

If Obamacare is allowed to stand - and Congress is allowed to make the purchase of government-endorsed health insurance compulsory - there will be no meaningful limit on Washington's reach into the lives of the American people. That is certainly not what the Founders intended.

I learned that Congress is a place with more heart than courage; there are more good souls in Washington than brave ones. I learned that the whole is not always the sum of its parts: that what you put in doesn't always match what you get out.

But I made one mistake which I would never repeat as a member of Congress when I was in Washington, and that was when I was elected I didn't go on trips because I was so afraid of having someone accuse me of taking junkets.

Washington has, with some justification, gained a reputation for being hopelessly mired in partisan gridlock.

Unlike the Contract with America, which was created by Washington pollsters and insiders, Families First was developed from the grassroots up. Congressional Democrats from across the country spent months meeting with people back home, asking them what issues were important to them, and what Congress could do to make their lives a little easier.

Power tends to corrupt. But the power in Washington resides in Congress, if it wants to use it. It can do anything - it can stop the Vietnam War, it can make its will felt, if it can ever get its act together to do anything.

There's a big gap between public opinion polls and the vote in Washington, in Congress.

They're calling their Washington sources at the NRC or in Congress and they're not hesitating to give their opinion, but their opinion, frankly, in those early days was not very well informed.

Washington, D.C., has a much greater risk than Manchester, N.H. They both need some level of funding, but they ought not to be done per capita. Congress is to blame for some of this.

On 8 March, pressed by Punjab's Sikh and Hindu leaders and shaken by the violence in Amritsar and Multan (apparently it had not yet learnt about Rawalpindi district), the Congress working committee, meeting in New Delhi, asked for 'a division of the Punjab into two Provinces, so that the predominantly Muslim part may be separated from the predominantly non-Muslim part'.58

By this momentous resolution the Congress had conceded Pakistan, while also insisting that east Punjab would stay out of it. (The implied demand that Bengal should be similarly divided was soon made explicit.) When the League asked for a division of India, the Congress had said no. Now, along with Punjab's Sikh and Hindu leaders, the Congress was demanding a division of Punjab.