Quotes About Congress

Five years ago the Library of Congress began a project that collects every utterance on Twitter, in the name of preserving the nation's digital heritage. That is billions weekly, sucked up for storage in secure tape archives, and the Library has yet to figure out how to make any of it available to researchers. Divorced from a human curator, the unfiltered mass of Twitter may as well be a garbage heap [What Libraries Can (Still) Do, The New York Review Daily, October 26, 2015].

We talk a lot in Congress about how we're going to encourage more development in renewables, and we put in place a subsidy that's good for two years. Then Congress argues and bickers over whether or not we're going to extend it. As a consequence, nothing happens because we've put so much uncertainty into the prospect of these subsidies.

There are areas of tension and uncertainty the Constitution doesn't address, and presidents of both parties have fought with Congress over their respective roles.

I will say this: I've had more pro-life bills, I believe, I ruled unconstitutional - but I tried - than the entire total membership of Congress together.

Certainly, the president is expected to safeguard the Constitution by vetoing unconstitutional acts of Congress. This is especially true because many laws can only be brought before the courts in a collateral way, if at all.

Before I was elected to represent southwestern Texas in the U.S. Congress, I spent almost a decade as an undercover officer in the CIA. I served in places where Russia has geopolitical interests, and learned that Russia has one simple goal: to erode trust in democratic institutions.

As a former undercover CIA officer, I've worked with my colleagues in the 114th Congress to approach the growing terrorist threat from a number of angles, including addressing the issue of terrorists' ease of travel, combating terrorist recruitment strategies, and improving our own counterterrorism capabilities.

Do not underestimate the intelligence of our farmers. They are not part of the protests staged by the Congress, which is resorting to gimmicks such as burning tractors.

Where I underestimated the opposition was how willing Republicans in Congress would be to put their short-term political interests ahead of what they knew was good for their country. That was extremely disappointing.

In the Affordable Care Act, Congress provided access to medical care for nearly 30 million uninsured Americans. Access is critically important, but offering access to an already broken system won't provide a lasting cure. We need to ask and answer the underlying question: Access to what?

'Gandhi' was a well-made film but surely not my best. It had flaws, which I understand two-and-a-half decades after I directed it. I will never call it a propaganda film for the Indian Congress, but it could have been made better had I concentrated on certain minute details.

I am confident that the Defense Department understands JSTARS is a major priority for Congress and will complete the process of updating the JSTARS fleet in a timely manner.

I've grown to love Barack Obama. Hillary is no Bernie Sanders. But she's a politician, and she understands Congress. And I think with that kind of twisted beauty, she could lead our country.

A politically astute president who understood deeply the economics and politics of corporate tax reform could conceivably muscle Congress toward a reform package that made sense. Trump is not that leader.

Roosevelt's strength was that he understood he would never get anything through the Republican old guard, his party, unless the public pressured Congress.

There are a lot of people in Congress who would never have made a great career or fortune in any other profession. But after they spend a while hanging out with the rich guys, they begin to feel they've been undervalued, and that an eventual seven-figure income as a lobbyist isn't just an opportunity, it's their due.

I support DACA, which prevents the deportation of undocumented immigrants who came to America as children. Congress should cement this program into law by supporting the DREAM Act, which has overwhelming bipartisan support.

Obama set a record number of deportations of illegal immigrants in 2011, but that fact alone is misleading. Obama has spoken in favor of and has urged Congress to pass the DREAM Act, a bill that would allow young undocumented immigrants to stay in America, their home, and achieve citizenship by going to college or serving in the military.

The Congress has had an uneasy relationship with banks and bankers since Alexander Hamilton. It took the United States until 1913 to set up a central bank. The Federal Reserve earned its hard-won independence over years of effort.

For too long, people in Washington and Congress point fingers at each other, even as millions of middle-class Americans remain unemployed and our economy continues to sputter. They must realize that we are all in this together, and I respectfully submit that the best way to remind Congress of this is to tie their pay to their collective results.

You would think that if any group in America had 20% to 25% unemployment, it would generate all kinds of attention. The Labor Department would understandably and necessarily begin to concentrate on what can we do to reduce this level of unemployment. Congress would give great time on the floor for debate on what can be done.

We in the Congress Party are hoping to do greater efforts to help the people of India, especially the downtrodden who find it very tough to get ahead in life. We are focusing on tackling issues related to unemployment and poverty.

Rahul Gandhi has promised to remove poverty and unemployment. There is nothing new about the election promises of Congress. Had only half of those promises been fulfilled, India would have been the most prosperous country in the world today.

In 2012, I helped lead the successful effort in Congress to allow states to conduct drug testing of people receiving unemployment benefits.